If You Had Five Minutes
by PFTones3482
Summary: Based off of a fanfic story I read and the song Live Like We're Dying by Kris Allen...If you had five minutes left, who would you call? The characters of Phineas and Ferb ponder this, and then make those calls. I don't own the song...but I love it!
1. Isabella

**CHAPTER 1- So, I'm not sure how this is going to work. This is a spin off (sort of) of a story by wfea called ****Last Call.**** Danny Phantom fanfiction, for anyone who wants to go look at that amazing work of art. **

**Anyway, I asked if I could do a story like that but for Phineas and Ferb, because it really got me inspired. Thanks wfea!**

**Let me know what you think, and I don't own Phineas and Ferb. Stupid Dan and Swampy….**

**This takes place while Phineas and Ferb are on their road trip...so some of this might be a little familiar.**

**Read on….please?**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Isabella flopped back on her bed and scrolled through her playlist on her iPod early on Monday morning. Failing to see anything that interested her at the moment, she pressed shuffle with her thumb and grabbed the latest issue of Tween Bleep Magazine, settling back into her pillows.

She set it down a moment later when the song she least expected to start playing started playing. She looked down at her iPod and smiled faintly.

"Huh. Live Like We're Dying," she murmured. She glanced at the artist: Kris Allen. She frowned, not remembering the song all that well. She blinked as a particular set of lyrics leapt out at her:

_If your plane fell out of the skies, who would you call with your last goodbyes?_

Isabella smiled and shut off her iPod, and she immediately reached for her phone, going through her contacts list. "I know exactly who I'd call," she said, her finger stopping on Phineas' name.

She paused. But what would she tell him? Well, besides the obvious. Isabella sighed and set down her phone. Was Phineas really the one she would need to talk to in her last few minutes?

Isabella got up and began pacing the floor, waking Pinky up in the process. She glanced over briefly at the dog before resuming her pacing.

"I don't know, Pinky, who would I call? I mean, my first thought is Phineas, or you know, my mom, but they both know that I love them…..well, Phineas, he kind of does."

Isabella paused in her longwinded commentary and frowned. "But…..I don't know, who would I need to talk to?"

She glanced at Pinky and then shook her head. "I obviously am losing it if I'm expecting you to answer back…..maybe I should talk to Mom."

Pinky barked and Isabella opened her door and walked down the stairs, her phone clutched in her hand. She found her mother in the kitchen, rolling out dough for something or other. Vivian Garcia-Shapiro looked up as Isabella entered and smiled.

"Good morning, Isa. Did you sleep well?" she asked as she rolled out the dough.

Isabella frowned and slid into her usual place at the kitchen table. She placed her phone in front of her and glared at it. Vivian noticed the look on her daughters face and she wiped her hands on a towel and sat down across from her. "Isa? You OK?"

Isabella glanced up. "Yeah. Mom, I was listening to this song, and this one line, it got me thinking: who would I call if I only had five minutes left to live?"

Vivian gave a smile. "I would assume Phineas."

Isabella shook her head. "Yeah, that's what I thought too, but if I only had five minutes to live, what would be the point of me telling him that I like him? It wouldn't change anything if I was about to die. It would just make him more depressed if he found out I liked him right before my plane went ker-splut onto the ground."

Vivian frowned as she pondered her daughter's words. "You have a point. Well, then think of it this way: who do you have unfinished business with? Who do you need to thank, or apologize to? Make it count, Isa. That's all I can tell you."

Vivian patted Isabella's hand, stood up, and returned to her dough. Isabella looked at the phone for a long time before she had someone come to mind. She smiled. "Yeah…thanks Mom!"

Vivian glanced up and grinned. "No problem sweetie. Are you going to Phineas and Ferb's?"

Isabella sighed. "No. They're on that road trip, remember? But I do have a phone call to make."

Isabella walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, staring at her phone some more. She _needed _to call him. To apologize….and thank him.

Isabella sighed, pulled up her contacts list, and pressed the button.

* * *

"I don't know, Ferb, I'm telling you, it's physically impossible for an armadillo to carry a baby peacock on its back," Phineas said, shaking his head.

Candace groaned and pulled her pillow over her head. She didn't even know how this conversation had started, let alone why. "Phineas, could you just shush and go to sleep already? I'm pretty sure Ferb's sleeping, anyways!"

Ferb moaned. "How could I? He's been talking for twenty minutes."

Candace snorted. Linda poked her head back into the closed off section. "Phineas, you guys need to go to sleep. Could you stop pestering Ferb and Candace?"

Phineas grinned and flopped down in bed. "Oh, fine."

Within minutes, snores were coming from his bed. Candace looked at Ferb, who was peering down at his brother. Ferb glanced at Candace, and she rolled her eyes. "How does he do that?"

Ferb shrugged and lay back down in his bed. He groaned a second later as his phone vibrated. Candace sighed. "Whoever it is, Ferb, make it fast."

Ferb glanced at the caller ID and blinked. Isabella? He shook his head and hopped off of his bed. He walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him before answering the still ringing cell.

"Isabella?" he said softly. "What's wrong?"

Isabella frowned. Why was that his first thought?

"Well, you rarely call me unless something's wrong, so…." Ferb raised an eyebrow as he waited for a response.

"Crud," Isabella muttered away from the phone, "did I say that out loud?"

"Isabella?"

Isabella quickly put the phone back to her ear. "So, Ferb….how's the road trip?"

Ferb frowned. That was definitely not why she had called. "That's not what you want," he said quietly.

Isabella sighed. Why could he read her so well, even when he was who knew how many miles away? "You're right, it's not."

Ferb raised an eyebrow. Isabella just knew it. "Well….I called to say…I'm sorry."

Ferb blinked in surprise and pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it. Did she just-?

"Ferb? Did you hear me?"

Ferb mutely returned the phone to his ear. "Yes."

Isabella knew she wasn't going to get anything else out of the boy. "I'm sorry I never attempted to include you…I always was so focused on Phineas that I never really thought about your feelings. I also called to say thank you."

Ferb shook his head. He was really lacking sleep.

"Thanks…you know, for listening to me rant and rave over Phineas. I never really listened to you, even when you did talk. So….I just wanted to tell you that if you want to talk to me about anything, ever, you can. You know, to repay all the times that you've listened to me."

Ferb took a breath. "Why'd you call to tell me this?"

Isabella paused and drummed her fingers on her coffee table. "I was thinking, if I had five minutes left to live, and I could call one person, who would I call?"

Ferb blinked and leaned on the sink as the RV took a rough turn. "You'd call me? What about Phineas?"

Isabella smiled and switched the phone from her right ear to her left. "I was thinking that, but then I realized that I never really thanked you for anything….besides that handkerchief. And I never said I'm sorry for not noticing you as much. If I did only have five minutes left to live, I'd want you to know that I appreciate everything you've ever done for me. You're a good friend, and I think sometimes I abuse that relationship."

Ferb shook his head and smiled. "You don't do that, but thank you. For calling. I've got to go. It's time for bed."

Isabella winced as she remembered that the Flynn-Fletchers were on a different time schedule. "Sorry. Night Ferb!"

Ferb smiled. "Good morning Isabella."

He snapped the phone shut and exited the bathroom. He climbed into bed and fell asleep to the rumbling road, Phineas' snoring, and Candace sleep busting.

Isabella shut her phone and smiled, leaning back on her couch. Her mother walked in and removed her apron.

"Who'd you call honey?" she asked as she sat down next to Isabella.

Isabella smiled and looked at the phone in her hand. "Someone who needed some recognition."

* * *

**That's the first chapter. I know it's a little short, but I want to know what you guys think before I go into way more detail.**

**Should I continue this? I mean, I won't until after my choir comes back from tour anyway, but still. Hey. When I'm done with this one (or maybe before, but after The Search for the Ghost Tablet is complete) you'll see my sequel to Platypus Troubles! Squeal! Ok. Breathing. **

**R and R!**


	2. Ferb

**CHAPTER 2- Hey! I am so happy that you people reviewed that I decided to continue this!**

**So Isabella called Ferb….now who calls who? And yes, I am almost done with the Search for the Ghost Tablet one. **

**This is a story that I will kind of be doing while I'm doing everything else, so don't expect constant updates on this one. But I'll try, I promise I will. **

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Ferb rubbed his eyes and sat up in his bed slowly, glancing around with half lidded eyes. He looked at his cell phone, which he had fallen asleep with the night before, and noticed that it was barely seven in the morning. He flipped open the phone just to make sure that the call he had received the night before from Isabella wasn't a dream. It wasn't.

He hopped out of bed and glanced at Candace and Phineas, who were still asleep. He felt soft fur against his ankle and glanced down to see Perry rubbing up against his leg. He leaned over and picked the platypus up.

"Good morning, Perry," he whispered as he tucked his phone into his pajama pocket. He cradled the monotreme in his arms and sat down at the table that they used for lunch and dinner. No one really ate breakfast on the road, unless they stopped for donuts. He glanced up as the curtain to the front of the RV opened and his father walked in, stretching.

"Good morning Ferb, did you sleep well?" he asked, rubbing his sons head affectionately. Ferb nodded and his dad walked into the bathroom. A moment later, Ferb heard the mobile shower begin running, and he knew he had about fifteen minutes to kill.

His hand reached for his phone and he found himself thinking of the phone call from Isabella the night before.

She had called…or, she would have called, with her last five minutes…she would have called him? It was still hard to wrap his mind around that, probably because he was only half awake. He glanced down at his phone and smiled faintly. Who would he call? His first thought he pushed away immediately. His family knew he loved him, and Isabella had called to make sure that he knew she appreciated him.

So…did he have an unfulfilled thank you or apology to make?

Ferb sat back in his seat and stroked Perry's back absentmindedly. His brain started running through all the possible people he could call…and that was a long list.

He frowned and began muttering quietly to himself. "Who would I call with my last five minutes? Who's helped me?"

Perry glanced up at Ferb, losing his blank demeanor for a brief second. What on earth was he talking about? Last five minutes? Was something wrong?

He looked back up at Ferb and decided that nah, nothing was wrong. He was as calm as ever. He was probably just contemplating the thought.

Ferb sighed and scratched Perry behind the ear. He really didn't know who to-wait.

He did know who to call. He looked at the clock, wondering if it was too early to call. The person he wanted to speak to really needed to hear what he had to say.

He calculated in his head quickly and realized that it was early morning, but the person he wanted to call would probably be up by now.

* * *

Buford shouldered his bag and headed for the door.

"Bye, Ma! See you later! I'm going over to Baljeet's!"

Biffany stuck her head out from the kitchen. "See you later Buford! Don't annoy the boy too badly!"

Buford grinned as he shut the front door. "No promises," he muttered under his breath.

He stepped onto the sidewalk and turned right towards Baljeet's house. He stopped at the corner to wait for the light to change and jumped when his cellphone rang.

He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. He looked up and answered as he crossed the street.

"Ferb? Dude, I thought you guys were on that road trip."

Ferb bit his lip. He _hated _talking on the phone, because people couldn't see his facial expressions, so he actually had to talk. But he really wanted to tell Buford what he had been thinking.

"We are. Everyone's asleep except myself and my parents."

Buford adjusted his bag and rounded another corner. "So why are you calling me?"

Ferb paused. "I got a call last night from-"

He hesitated. Would Isabella really want him to use her name? Sure they were all friends, but even one slip up could make things a little more awkward during their usual friendly montages.

"-from a friend," he finished, "and she asked me if I had five minutes left to live, who would I call?"

Buford stopped in his tracks. He could see Baljeet's house, but at the moment, he was frozen in place.

"Wait, what?"

Ferb took a deep breath. "I thought about it, and I realized I never thanked you."

Buford frowned and leaned on a nearby lamppost. "Thanked me for what?"

Ferb scratched Perry behind the ear and sighed. "You remember that incident in first grade? When Phineas and I weren't in the same class?"

Buford rubbed his head and the memory came flooding back. "Whoa, yeah, I do. Wait, you wanted to thank me for that?"

Ferb nodded, and then remembered that Buford couldn't see him. Curse these cell phones!

"Yes. Yes I did."

Buford blinked. "Hey, man, I was just standing up for you. It was no biggie."

Ferb smiled and crossed his legs under him, leaning lightly on Perry. "It was to me. You were the first one besides Phineas or Candace to do so. So thank you."

Buford was honestly stunned. "No problem. But why'd you decide to call me now?"

Ferb sat up a little straighter, removing his weight from Perry. "I never did say thank you. And like I said, if I had only a few minutes left, I'd want to thank you so that I didn't feel all guilty."

Buford raised an eyebrow. "Well…OK. See you guys when you get back from your trip. Have fun!"

Ferb smiled. "Bye."

He hung up the phone and set it on the table in front of him. Ferb glanced up as his father stepped out of the bathroom, an uneven shave crossing his face. Ferb raised an amused eyebrow and his father shook his head.

"Never shave when you're in a moving RV."

* * *

Buford tucked his phone in his pocket and walked up Baljeet's front walk. He paused and rang the doorbell. Baljeet opened the door and half groaned, half smiled.

"OK Buford, let's get this over with. I have on my extra stretchy underpants, so hopefully today won't be too bad."

Buford frowned and rested his hand lightly on the pocket his phone was in. "Actually nerd, do you just want to hang out with Isabella today?"

Baljeet looked up, flabbergasted. "Huh? You're not going to pummel me to a pulp?"

Buford slowly shook his head. "But why? Not that I'm complaining," Baljeet quickly added.

Buford smiled and the two turned away from the house to walk to Isabella's. "Let's just say I had a change of heart for the day. Mention this to anyone but Isabella, though, and you're toast."

* * *

**So that's who Ferb would call. Don't worry; I'll explain what they were talking about in the next chapter. I honestly couldn't believe the response I got to this.**

**So who will Buford call? And no, please don't say Baljeet. That's a little too obvious in my mind.**

**But R and R anyway!**


	3. Buford

**Woo! Next chapter! I actually am really inspired on this story! I've been having a ton of PF ideas lately, and I'm trying to get them all down on paper so I don't forget them. **

**(By the way, I finished writing the sequel to Platypus Troubles. I just need to type it. If anyone has a good title idea, I'm open to suggestions.)**

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Buford grinned as he dropped Baljeet off at his house. "See you tomorrow nerd!" he called as he walked home.

Baljeet waved from his doorstep and shut the door. Buford slung his bag over his shoulder and smiled lightly the whole way home.

It had been a really good day, despite Phineas and Ferb not being there. Isabella had accepted the invitation to hang out with Buford and Baljeet for the day, and the three had gone to the waterpark. Though it wasn't nearly as cool as the one Phineas and Ferb had made, it was fun nonetheless.

Buford walked inside his house and set his bag down. "Buford, honey, is that you?" his mother called from the kitchen.

Buford grinned. "No ma, it's a burglar!"

"OK!" the woman called back, her voice betraying a smile, "just wipe your feet on the way out!"

Buford chuckled. "I'll be in my room!"

"Dinner in half an hour, mister burglar!" Biffany called back.

Buford walked up to his room and sat at his computer. He was about to log onto his e-mail when something made him pause and pull his cell phone out of his pocket. He stared at it for a while, remembering what Ferb had said to him.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

* * *

_It was the first day of first grade, and Buford VanStomm couldn't have been happier __**(his fish hadn't been threatened yet, so he was still a nice child)**__. He was really excited for his new class, and he couldn't wait to meet the other kids. He was so excited that he missed the three kids grouped in front of the elementary school in his haste to get inside._

_Phineas leaned over his new stepbrother and patted his back. "Don't worry Ferb, I bet we'll be in the same class next year!" the orange haired boy said happily._

_Ferb looked up with a teary smile. "Do you think so?"_

_Phineas nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!"_

_A dark haired girl raced past and 11 year old Candace smiled. "Phineas, there's Isabella. I'll take Ferb to class, you go ahead."_

_Phineas gave his brother a quick hug and darted away. "Isabella, wait up!"_

_Candace glanced down at Ferb and ruffled his hair. "Come on buddy, you'll be fine. I bet you'll make lots of new friends."_

_Candace led Ferb to his classroom and nodded to Miss Janet, his teacher. Buford was already in the room, playing with the blocks in the corner. He had been there for maybe five minutes when he heard a sound that made the six-almost-seven year old very sad: someone was crying._

_He turned around to see a green haired boy surrounded by other kids. Buford walked over curiously. A big tall boy with blonde hair smiled meanly at the green haired boy. "Why do you talk so funny? And what kind of name is Ferb?" he asked._

_Buford scowled and walked over to the bully. "That was mean!" he said, putting an arm around the boy protectively. _

_He turned and led the boy-Ferb-away from the mean kids. Ferb gave him a small smile and sniffled. "Thank you," he said softly._

_Buford's eyes widened. "You do talk funny!" he said in amazement. Noticing Ferb's sad frown, he quickly corrected himself. "But it sounds really cool! Do you want to be friends? My name's Buford."_

_Ferb gave another small smile and he extended his hand slowly. "Ferb."_

* * *

Buford sat back in his chair and smiled. That was a really good memory, one he'd almost forgotten until Ferb had called him that morning.

It was Ferb who'd introduced him to Phineas and Isabella, and Ferb who hadn't left him as a friend when he'd become a bully. When Buford thought about it, he realized he had more to thank Ferb for than Ferb did him. He glanced at his phone again.

He would want to call Ferb, but that would seem like he was trying to show Ferb up. Was there someone else he could call?

His ma came to mind but Buford gave a small smile and shook his head. She knew he loved her. Baljeet came into his head, but despite the constant bullying, the nerd knew that Buford really didn't hate him all that much.

Buford shook away Phineas and Isabella. They both knew that he cared.

Even his father came to mind. Buford scowled at that one. His father had walked out when he was seven, almost eight, after years of drinking and abuse. He wanted nothing to do with him, and Buford had nothing he wanted to tell his father, except maybe some words that would keep him grounded for a year or two.

But with the thought of his father came a thought of someone else. Someone who had been there for him when his father did leave.

He glanced at his phone. He did have their number, strangely enough, and he scrolled down to it. Funny, the person he was going to call was in the same place as Ferb. He gave a smile and pressed talk.

* * *

"All right, kids, we're stopping here for about twenty minutes," Lawrence said as Linda parked the RV. "Get out, run around, grab some fresh air, and then we're headed to Swampy's Steak House for supper!"

Phineas and Ferb cheered and darted away to play on the grass. Phineas was carrying Perry and Ferb was holding a Frisbee. Candace climbed out and grinned. "Yes! Cell service! Got to go call Jeremy!"

Lawrence chuckled and looked up as Linda climbed out. "Lawrence, I'm going to go play Frisbee with the boys. I haven't done it in so long. Keep an eye on Candace?"

Lawrence nodded. "Sure, honey."

Linda ran off to join her sons' activity. "Wait for me boys!" she called.

Lawrence chuckled and locked the RV door. He went off in the direction that Candace had gone and found her sitting on a bench. He decided to give her some privacy and let her talk to Jeremy in peace.

He found a newspaper stand and bought a newspaper and then sat down in a chair and flipped open to the sports section. He had read two sentences when his cellphone rang. He put the paper down and picked up the cell at his side. He didn't bother to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?" he said, glancing longingly at the paper.

"Um, hi. Mr. Fletcher?"

Lawrence sat up in surprise. "Yes. Is this Buford?" he asked in confusion. The boy hadn't called him on his cell in over a year.

Buford gulped. He was a little nervous. "Yeah, this is Buford."

Lawrence frowned. "Are you OK? Why are you calling?"

Buford rubbed his neck. "I'm fine. Um, the reason I'm calling…that's a little complicated."

Lawrence snorted. "It can't be that complicated. What is it? Wait, did you mean to call Phineas or Ferb?"

Buford shook his head as he answered. "No, no, I meant to call you. Um, I got this call from someone who told me that if they only had five minutes left to live, they would call me."

Lawrence shifted his weight. "Who called you?"

Buford hesitated. He wanted to say Ferb, but the fact that he was on the same trip might make it a little awkward for the un-talkative boy. "Just a friend. But it got me thinking about who I would call with my last five minutes."

Lawrence smiled, and then he realized what the boy had said. "Wait, with your last five minutes you'd call me?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah," Buford said sheepishly.

Lawrence shook his head. "Well, I'm flattered but may I ask why?"

Buford rubbed his toe into his carpet. "Do you remember a few years ago, when my dad walked out on me and my mom?"

Lawrence's eyes widened. "Yes, of course."

Buford hesitated. "I wanted to say thank you for what you did. You helped me not completely lose my mind. I really appreciated it."

Lawrence was stunned. There were so many people that this boy could have called, and he would have called him. "Well, of course. That's what friends are for."

Buford smiled lightly. "Yeah. Phineas and Ferb were a big help too."

Lawrence shrugged. "Well, they're close friends as well."

Buford shook his head. "Yeah. Well, look, if you repeat what I say now to anyone, my rep will be totally ruined…but you guys aren't really friends. You're more like family."

The dial tone sang in Lawrence's ear and he looked at the phone, smiling. The boy really did have a soft side.

* * *

Buford hung up the phone and paced his room anxiously. He had never been that open with anyone except maybe his ma. Not even Phineas and Ferb.

"Buford honey, time for dinner!" his mother yelled.

Buford opened his door and stashed his phone in his pocket, smiling as he headed down the stairs for his mom's famous meatloaf.

_Maybe I should try being more open_, he thought, as he heaped mashed potatoes onto his plate.

_Then again_, he thought as he shoveled said potatoes into his mouth, _I do have a rep to maintain_.

* * *

**Bet you weren't expecting that call! So many people said Candace, but guys, keep in mind that this story doesn't really go exactly with Phineas and Ferb. There are some things you'll recognize, but I've made up some stories as well. **

**So I realized I fudged up the time schedule thing, so whatever, I'm making them be on the same time loop from now on. Whatever, it'll make it easier on me and you. **

**Now I've added Lawrence? Who's he gonna call?**

**And I think a place called Swampy's Steak House would rock!**

**R and R!**


	4. Lawrence

**Yeah, Lawrence's call! I had some random guesses on this one, but I think that the outcome I chose worked pretty well. It was a bit difficult to write. **

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, Garfield, or the song that inspired this story.**

**Read on all you awesome people!**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Lawrence sat back and smiled as he patted his stomach. "That was an amazing steak," he proclaimed to his wife. "I'm so glad we decided to eat here."

Linda smiled. "Me too. The kids look like they enjoyed themselves as well."

Lawrence glanced over at his kids. They were all chuckling over some joke that Ferb had just told, and Candace hadn't even mentioned busting Phineas and Ferb all day. Maybe the road trip really was bringing them all closer together.

"EEP! Dad, Phineas just squirted milk all over me! Bust him, right now!"

Maybe not.

Lawrence quickly calmed Candace down while Linda paid for the dinner they had just finished. The five went back to the RV, where Perry was sleeping quietly. Lawrence hopped into the driver's seat while Linda made sure the boys got ready for bed and Candace changed her clothes.

The man turned the key in the ignition and pulled back onto the road. Linda stuck her head in through the curtain that separated the driver's part from the living part. "Lawrence, I'm going to sleep for a while. Candace is reading and Phineas and Ferb are heading to bed."

Lawrence nodded. "All right honey. I'll wake you when we stop off for gas."

Lawrence drove in silence for several miles, faint snores alerting him to the fact that Phineas and Ferb were now asleep. He turned on the radio, softly, so as not to wake anyone, and listened to it for a while. A quiet chatter told him that Perry was now residing in the passenger's side of the RV. He gave a small smile.

The sky was dark, but even Lawrence could see the stars peeking out. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the music. The song stopped playing a moment later, and the radio DJ came on.

"And that was "Music Makes Us Better," by Love Handel. And now a good old song everyone knows."

Lawrence was tempted to step on the brakes and gape at the radio when the song started playing. Hadn't Buford called him saying if he had five minutes left, he'd call him?

_If your plane fell out of the skies, who would you call with your last goodbyes?_

Lawrence shook his head and focused on the road. Nah. That song was just a major coincidence. They always played it on this station.

Lawrence smiled. He was still slightly stunned that the boy had called him. He supposed it made sense.

The British man frowned as he recalled the day Buford had brought to memory.

* * *

_Lawrence was reading the paper, and laughing at the insane antics of _Garfield _when someone rang the doorbell. He sat the newspaper down and went to answer it, surprised to find a seven year old Buford on his front doorstep. They boy's birthday was in a week, and Phineas and Ferb had just gone out with Linda and Candace to buy him a birthday present. _

"_Buford? What can I do for you son?" Lawrence asked, leaning on the doorjamb. _

_The boy glanced up and Mr. Fletcher was surprised to see that he was crying. "Are Phineas and Ferb home?" he asked softly. _

_Lawrence stood up straight. "No, but I am. Why don't you come in?"_

_Buford obliged quietly and sat on the couch. Lawrence hesitantly sat down next to him._

_Buford wasn't well known to Mr. Fletcher, but the boy loved coming over and playing with Phineas and Ferb and since Linda knew Biffany, they had an arrangement that worked well with all of the boys: they were allowed to walk back and forth to the others house as long as they told their parents. _

_Lawrence bit his lip. "What's wrong?" he asked Buford._

_Buford looked up. "Dad…he's not home anymore."_

_Lawrence frowned. He didn't know Mr. VanStomm very well, but he knew that he didn't like him. "What do you mean, Buford?"_

_Buford sighed. "Mom found a note from Dad…it said he wasn't coming home ever again."_

_Lawrence's eyebrows shot up. The man had left? "Really?" he said softly._

_Buford nodded and his eyes welled up with tears. "But he promised he'd be here for my birthday, he promised! He can't break that promise, can he Mr. Fletcher?"_

_Lawrence didn't know how to answer that. "Well, what else did the note say?"_

_Buford frowned. "Lots of things that Mom wouldn't even let me read. She said that they weren't for 'a person my age.'"_

_Lawrence assumed that that meant there were a lot of swear words in the note. "Well, I don't know if he'll come to your birthday," he said carefully._

_Buford's lower lip trembled and Lawrence quickly rubbed the boy's shoulder. "But if he doesn't, then he doesn't know what he's missing. Eight is a big age."_

_Buford smiled and nodded importantly. "Yeah. It is. Thank you Mr. Fletcher."_

_Lawrence stood and walked Buford to the door. "Why don't I walk you home, Buford?"_

_Buford nodded. "Ok."_

_The two walked to Buford's house in silence, and at some point, Buford grabbed Mr. Fletcher's hand and refused to let go. _

_Biffany was relieved to see Buford safe. "Oh, honey, don't you ever go somewhere without telling me!"_

_Buford looked at the ground. "Sorry, Mom."_

_Biffany watched him go inside and turned to Lawrence. "Thank you for bringing him home. I don't know if he told you, but my husband left us. Frankly, I'm kind of happy he did, but Buford's devastated that he won't be here for his birthday."_

_Lawrence smiled. "We'd be happy to come over for his birthday. Actually, Phineas and Ferb really want to take him to the carnival that's coming to town. They think it would be fun."_

_Biffany smiled. "I think that he would love that. Thank you again."_

_Lawrence nodded. "If there's ever anything we can do, let us know."_

* * *

Lawrence smiled and glanced at the clock. He was shocked to see that it was almost ten. Had he really been in a trance that long?

It was a good thing he was still focused on the driving.

Perry, who was sitting nervously in the passenger's seat, was thanking God that he'd come up front. He didn't know what Lawrence had been thinking about, but whatever it was, it was enough to make Perry have to take the wheel for a few minutes so that they didn't crash.

Lawrence shook his head. Buford's birthday that year had been a big success, even without his father showing up. The Flynn-Fletcher's had taken Biffany and Buford to the carnival, and the boy had a ball, especially when he won his goldfish.

Lawrence chuckled to himself. Amazingly, that fish was still alive. Normally those things died two days after you got them.

He sat back in his seat and concentrated on the road ahead. And the boy had come over throughout the years to get advice from Lawrence. In a way, the man supposed he was the only male influence Buford had. So it made him feel good that the boy had called him to tell him he appreciated him.

Lawrence frowned. Who would he call? No one he thought of had been a real influence on his life, minus his family of course. But what would he tell them in five minutes? That he loved them?

They already knew that. Lawrence bit his lip and chewed on it for a minute. This was a tough one.

His mind wandered, though he still kept most of it on the road, much to Perry's relief.

He briefly thought of calling Jeremy. Mostly because if he only had five minutes left, he'd want to tell him to take care of his baby girl.

But he knew that he wouldn't have to do that. Jeremy was an awesome kid. He'd take care of Candace whether he told him to or not. He trusted the boy with all his heart, and knew (just like everyone else) that the two would end up together in the future. He also knew that Phineas and Ferb and all their friends were secretly placing bets on who would be best man, ring bearer and flower girl. Most of the money for best man (men) went on Phineas and Ferb themselves, but flower girl was a toss-up between Jeremy's little sister Suzy and Isabella, who Candace treated like a little sister.

Lawrence shook his head. No, Jeremy was off the list.

But who did that leave?

Lawrence reached for his cell phone and Perry started panicking again. Was the man really going to talk and drive?

Lawrence seemed to hear his pet's thoughts, because he gave the cell a second thought. He glanced at the gas gauge and noticed that it was nearing empty, so he pulled off of the highway and into a 7-11. He parked next to a pump, grabbed his phone, and woke Linda up.

"Honey, I'm going to take a break. Can you fill her up?"

Linda smiled and stretched. "Of course. Are you attempting to sway me with more trucker talk?"

Lawrence grinned and pecked her on the cheek. "Well, duh."

Linda snorted and Lawrence grabbed Perry's leash. He knew the platypus could probably use a little excitement. He'd been sitting and doing nothing for over three or four hours.

"Come on Perry, I'm going to take you for a walk!" he called softly.

He glanced at the kids as Perry trotted over. Candace was asleep at the table, her face resting on page 106 of _The Wizard of Oz._ Phineas and Feb were sleeping in their beds, Phineas with an arm dangling over the edge, and Ferb with his Log Book on top of his chest.

Lawrence hooked Perry's leash to his collar and stepped out of the RV. He walked over to a picnic table in the distance and sat down, shivering in the cool night air.

He glanced at his cell phone again. It was a tough decision, but he did have one person he could call.

But he wasn't calling to thank them for something they did for him. He almost re thought it, based on the time, but he realized that it was only 10:30, and the kids were asleep only because they were tired from travelling.

Hopefully, the person he wanted to call was still awake.

* * *

Stacy stretched and glanced at Ginger. The young Fireside Girl was sound asleep, resting on her sister's hip. Stacy chuckled and stood carefully. She picked her sister up and walked her up the stairs to bed.

"So much for watching the whole Harry Potter marathon," Stacy whispered as she tucked Ginger into bed. They hadn't even finished the second movie.

She went back downstairs, tiptoeing carefully past her mother's bedroom. Dr. Hirano had been working the late shifts recently, and the woman still had a few hours to sleep before she had to get up and go to the hospital. Stacy didn't want to wake her.

When she reached the couch, Stacy realized that her phone was vibrating against the cushions. She frowned. Who was calling her at this time?

She picked up the phone and paused. She didn't recognize the number, although something in the back of her mind told her she should. She turned and muted Harry Potter's fight against the basilisk and opened up her cellphone.

"Hello?" she said softly.

"Stacy? This is Mr. Fletcher."

Stacy sat down abruptly. Why on earth was Mr. Fletcher calling her? They were on that road trip, right?

"Um, hi. Is everything ok?" she asked nervously.

Lawrence chuckled. "Yes, everything is fine. I know this is odd, my calling you and everything, but I had to speak with you."

Stacy glanced at the clock. "At 10:40?"

Lawrence winced. "I'm sorry, were you sleeping?"

Stacy laughed. "No, not really. My sister and I were watching Harry Potter. What's up?"

Lawrence twisted Perry's leash in his hand. "Someone posed an interesting question to me today. Um, if I had five minutes left to live, who would I call it with? I thought about it for a while, and I picked you."

Stacy was extremely confused. "Wait, huh? Why? I can't recall having done anything extremely helpful for you."

Lawrence chuckled. "That's just it. It wasn't me thanking you for something you did for me. It was what you did for Candace."

Stacy was really confused now. Too much butter in her popcorn or something. "What did I do for Candace?"

Lawrence smiled and leaned on the table behind him. "You really don't recall?"

Stacy shook her head and began picking up popcorn kernels from hers and Ginger's popcorn war. "No, I don't."

"When Ferb and I first moved in, Candace wasn't the happiest camper. You calmed her down and made her give us a chance."

Stacy sat up so fast that she wacked her back on her coffee table. "I did? I didn't know that she actually took my advice. I gave it to her, the next day I left for camp, and then when I came back two weeks later, she was fine with you," she said as she rubbed her aching spine.

Lawrence chuckled. "I know she took your advice. You were in her room when you gave it to her, and those walls aren't soundproof."

Stacy winced and placed the popcorn bucket on the table. "You could hear us?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, if that's what you're asking. My room is directly across the hall, you know."

"Right," Stacy muttered, embarrassed now. "Well, thanks for calling. It's nice to know you appreciate what I did, even if I didn't know that I did it."

Lawrence chuckled and glanced up as Linda called his name. Perry was asleep under the bench, and the RV was filled up. "Stacy, I have to go. But it was nice talking to you, and thanks again. It actually does mean a lot to me, what you did."

Stacy smiled. "Have fun on the rest of your trip, Mr. Fletcher."

Lawrence nodded and closed the phone. Rather than wake Perry up, he picked the monotreme up in his arms and got back on the RV. He sat down in the driver's seat and turned the automobile back on.

_Darn it. There goes my nap, _Perry thought.

* * *

Stacy hung up the phone and turned the volume on the TV back on. The end credits were rolling on the movie and Stacy popped the DVD out and put it back in its case.

She swept up the rest of the popcorn into the trash can and sat back down, pulling the third movie from its case. She pushed it into the DVD player and went to the kitchen to make a fresh batch of popcorn.

She came back five minutes later and sat on the couch. She looked at her phone and smiled.

_That was an odd call_, the teen mused as she pressed play.

But one worth answering.

* * *

**So, who saw that coming? Be honest, no one, right?**

**I knew most people were going to say Jeremy, just because Lawrence is Candace's dad. That's why I changed it on ya! Still a friend of Candace's, just not the one you were expecting. I enjoyed writing the part where Lawrence was thinking about calling Jeremy, though. And Perry. Hee hee. **

**And BTW, if I ever have something in here that wasn't an episode and I made up, I will do a flashback or something to tell you what on earth the characters were speaking of. Or if it's self-explanatory, I'll just leave it.**

**Thanks so much for all the reviews on this guys! Review some more please!**


	5. Stacy

**I don't believe it. I just don't. What am I doing wrong as an author? Can someone tell me?**

**HOW ON EARTH DID **_**OUT WITH A WHOOSH AND A THUNK**_** GUESS WHO STACY WOULD CALL?**

**I must be doing something wrong…no, JK. Congrats for guessing correctly, **_**Out with a Whoosh and a Thunk.**_** Don't spill the beans!**

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

**Read on as I thump my head repeatedly on the table.**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Stacy groaned and stretched long and hard enough to make her back crack. She sat up and glanced blearily at her watch. Ugh. 8:30 in the morning. She had fallen asleep at the beginning of _Tangled_ (she had finished the Harry Potter movies at around 6:00 am) and now the credits were rolling on screen.

She stood up, tossed her blanket to the side, and pulled the DVD out of the player. She put it away and folded her blanket. She stored it in the top of the linen closet, where she had gotten it from around 2:00 in the morning.

Stacy headed back for the living room and found a note from her mom on the coffee table.

_-Stacy:_

_I left at around 3. You weren't in here, so I assume you've gone to the bathroom, because the movie is still playing on the TV. I'll be back later. Remember that Ginger has a meeting at Isabella's house at 10. Bye sweetie!_

_-Mom_

Stacy didn't know how she'd missed the note, but it didn't matter. She could hear Ginger on the stairs clear as day.

"Morning Stacy!" Ginger said perkily as she skipped into the living room.

Stacy smiled and tousled Ginger's hair. Ginger smoothed it back into place and smiled. Stacy grinned back. "You up for pancakes?"

Ginger bounced up and down. "With blueberries? Please, please, please?"

Stacy chuckled. Her sister was such a morning person. "Sure, with blueberries. Want to set the table for me?"

"Ok!" Ginger said as she ran into the kitchen.

Stacy shook her head and pulled out the pancake mix. She whipped it together quickly, added blueberries, and waited for the griddle to heat up as she stirred the batter again.

Ginger tossed plates, napkins, forks, knives, and cups onto the table quickly and then she ran to the fridge. "Apple or Orange?" she asked, holding up the cartons of juice.

"Apple," Stacy said over her shoulder as she poured the batter onto the smoking hot griddle.

Ginger poured a glass of each and set the orange in her spot, the apple in Stacy's. She put the cartons back in the fridge and removed the syrup, butter, and whipped cream.

Stacy flipped the finished pancakes onto a plate and raised an eyebrow at the whipped cream as she distributed the pancakes onto the two plates. "Whipped cream, Ginger?"

Ginger grinned and slid into her place. She began buttering her pancakes. "Yeah, it's awesome!"

Stacy smiled and sat down. The two sat in silence while they fixed up their breakfast. Finally, Ginger started talking.

"So….what time did I fall asleep?"

"End of the second movie," Stacy said as she tossed a fresh blueberry into her mouth.

"Seriously? Darn. What'd you do after I fell asleep?"

Stacy shrugged. "Watched the rest of the movies and texted Jenny."

Ginger cocked her head and swallowed. "Why was Jenny up so late?"

Stacy rolled her eyes and added more syrup to her pancakes. "She was writing some protest statement against this thing called the OWCA. According to her, they use animals as secret agents. I don't buy it. I think someone just started a rumor online."

Ginger shrugged. "You never know. They have animals in the military."

Stacy nodded. "True. Anyway, she went to bed around four-ish. Oh, I did get this call right after you went to bed."

Ginger took a gulp of her orange juice. "From who?"

Stacy paused with her fork and knife in mid-air. "Candace's dad, Mr. Fletcher."

"Why'd he call you?" Ginger asked in bewilderment.

"Something about him calling me if he only had a few minutes to call someone he appreciated."

Ginger raised an eyebrow and sawed further into her pancakes. "What did you do for him?" she asked.

Stacy frowned. "Apparently, I gave Candace advice on him and Ferb. I didn't realize that he heard us at the time. I mean, we were only nine…well, Candace was ten. Her birthday had been the week before."

"So what did you say?" Ginger asked, honestly intrigued.

Stacy smiled and sat forward. "It was about two weeks after Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher married Mr. Fletcher. It went a little something like this…"

* * *

_Stacy watched her best friend pace back and forth across her bedroom, wringing her old Ducky Momo stuffed animal in her hands. "Candace, you need to calm down a little."_

"_Calm down?" ten year old Candace cried. "Stacy, are you nuts? My life is ruined!"_

_Stacy sighed. "Candace, they're not that bad. Ferb seems really nice, and so does your dad."_

_Candace scowled. "He's not my dad. And how would you know if Ferb was nice? He never talks to anyone!"_

"_He talks to Phineas," Stacy pointed out._

"_Because they're the same age! Why'd Mom have to go and marry Mr. Fletcher? How come she just gave up on Dad like that? How could she move on so fast? He's been gone for only a year and a half….and I…Stacy, does this mean she doesn't love Dad anymore?'_

_Stacy frowned and walked over to her trembling friend. "No Candace, of course not," she said, wrapping her arms around her friend. "But Mr. Fletcher is really nice. Maybe you should give him a chance."_

"_Why? So he can replace Dad more? No. Mr. Fletcher will never replace Dad."_

_Stacy sighed and rubbed Candace's back. "Candace, no. He won't replace your Dad. But wouldn't your Dad want you to be happy with the new person your mom married?"_

_Candace shook a little. "Maybe. I don't know."_

_Stacy walked Candace over to the bed and sat her down. "Maybe Mr. Fletcher and your mom getting married is your dad saying that he doesn't want you guys to be alone anymore. Maybe he sent you Mr. Fletcher and Ferb."_

_Candace looked up, her eyes teary. "Do you think so?"_

_Stacy nodded. "I do."_

_Candace sighed and put her head in her hands. "But I've been so mean to them. They won't like me now, will they?"_

_Stacy paused. "I don't know. But Ferb did ask me earlier why you hated him."_

_Candace's head shot up. "What? He asked you that?"_

_Stacy nodded. "Yeah. My advice is to take a day with just Ferb. No Phineas, no Isabella, no Mom. Just you and Ferb. Get to know him. Have fun. Then do the same thing with Mr. Fletcher. You never know, you might have a lot of fun."_

_Candace sighed. "I don't know. I'll try. I'm still not too sure about them. But I'll try."_

_Stacy stood up and smiled. "Good. I've got to go. I'm leaving for camp tomorrow, and I haven't even started packing yet!"_

_Candace waved. "Have fun! And thanks!"_

* * *

"So that's pretty much what happened," Stacy finished as she scooped the last of her pancakes in her mouth, got up, and headed for the sink.

"What did she do to get to know them?" Ginger asked as she cleared her plate from the table.

Stacy paused and held the sponge from the sink in her hand loosely for a moment. "I'm not positive….Candace did tell me, but I was so busy putting on ointment for all those bug bites I had gotten at camp that I didn't really hear her. But she mentioned going to get ice cream with Ferb and then going to the park with her Dad."

"She called him Dad?" Ginger asked as she handed Stacy the glasses.

"Yup. Has ever since."

Ginger shook her head. "I can't believe Ferb asked you if she hated him."

Stacy nodded and put the plates in the drying rack. "I know. It's haunted me a little to this day. I think Ferb has always felt a little left out when it came to Phineas' and Candace's relationship."

Ginger shrugged. "Maybe Candace feels the same way about Phineas and Ferb, or Phineas about Ferb and Candace."

Stacy turned off the water and paused. "I never thought of it that way."

She glanced at the clock. "Come on. You have to be at Isabella's in twenty minutes."

Stacy grabbed the house keys and the two left the house. They turned up Maple Drive and greeted Gretchen as they ran into her and her mom.

Stacy dropped Ginger off, waved to Isabella, and yelled, "See you in a few hours!"

Ginger waved and Stacy walked back home, thinking about Mr. Fletcher's call. She pushed open the front door and fell onto the couch, biting her lip.

Who would she call? That was one of the most difficult questions Stacy had ever thought about.

She paused and thought about it for a moment. How had Mr. Fletcher decided? It was something that seemed small at the time, but played out into something much bigger. She wasn't the closest family member or friend.

He had decided purely because of what she had done, Stacy was sure of it.

Stacy sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. Ugh, this was worse than a math problem.

Math problem.

Stacy suddenly sat up, her hand groping for her phone before she realized that she didn't have the number she wanted. She sprinted up the stairs and into Gingers room. She rummaged through the desk drawers before spotting the girls phone on her bed. She picked it up, scrolled through the contacts, and dialed the number of the one she wanted into her phone.

* * *

Baljeet poked at his cereal and smiled faintly as some of it clung to the edge of his spoon. He was seriously bored. Buford was coming by in an hour and the two were going to join the Fireside Girls, and then the whole group was going to go to the zoo.

But for now, he had nothing to do, and nothing appealed to him at the moment, not even math.

His cell phone rang, pulling him out of his thoughts and making him accidentally send bits of cereal across the table.

He picked up the phone and opened it up, sure it was Buford, calling to say he was running late.

"Buford, I do not care what it is; I would like to go to the zoo. So hurry up and get over here!"

Stacy blinked and glanced at her phone. "Uh, Baljeet? I don't think you're talking to who you think you are."

Baljeet grimaced. "I am so sorry. Who is this?"

"Stacy Hirano."

Baljeet frowned and sat up, dropping his spoon into his bowl. "Hi. What are you calling for?"

Stacy twisted her hair nervously in her fingers. "Um, do you recall, back in February, when I got you to tutor me in math?"

Baljeet nodded slowly, not sure where Stacy was going with this. "Yes, of course. But it is summer. Why do you-?"

"No, hang on. Listen. I got this call, asking me if I had only a few minutes left to live, who would I call it with to tell them I appreciated them."

Baljeet shook his head. "Do you need help with grammar, because that was such a long run on-wait, what?"

Stacy chuckled. "Look, you didn't know it at the time, but I was flunking math. My teacher had told me that if I didn't get my grade up, I'd have to stay back a year. You helped me bring my grade up from an F to a B. That's impressive, especially in only four months. So thank you. You're the only reason I passed math this previous year."

Baljeet sat staring at his phone. He was completely dumbfounded. "I did? I did not know that."

Stacy sighed. "I know. And you also kept it from everyone that I was being tutored by a ten year old. So thanks for that, too. It would have been a little embarrassing for me."

Baljeet smiled. "You are quite welcome. By the way, how did you get my number?"

Stacy shrugged. "From Ginger's phone."

Baljeet nodded. "Oh, ok. Well, thank you for calling. It is gratifying to know that you would have called me with your last few moments."

Stacy smiled. "Have fun at the zoo with the girls."

Baljeet smiled and stood. "I will. Goodbye."

Stacy hung up the phone and sat back, resting her feet on the coffee table.

She put _Tangled _back into the DVD player.

Maybe she could actually watch it this time.

* * *

Baljeet smiled and put his bowl into the sink. He glanced at the clock overhead of the sink and sighed.

He would just have to pick Buford up instead. "Mother, I'm leaving!"

"Have fun Baljeet!" she called back from the laundry room.

Baljeet grabbed his phone and stepped out the door, whistling cheerfully as he closed the front door and headed for Buford's. He was halfway there when a thought occurred to him.

He turned and stared at the phone in his hand.

"How on earth did _Ginger_ get my number?"

* * *

**Hee hee. Sneaky Ginger. And I liked writing the part about Jenny...and what she was protesting. (:**

**Who's up next? Well, we'll find out when we find out!**

**R and R all you wonderful reviewers, while I go get some ice for my sore head!**


	6. Baljeet

**Yeah! Baljeet is up! A few people guessed this one….I'm losing my skills….(:**

**Oh gosh, sorry, I'm dying a little from laughter right now….Brian Regan everyone. Just….look him up. Do it. **

**In the meantime, I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Baljeet sighed and walked up to his room less than five seconds after he had walked in the front door of his house.

"Of course Buford just _had _to give me a wedgie on the way home."

He shrugged as he pulled on a new pair of pants. "I guess he has a little restraint; he did not wedgie me until we almost got to his house."

He smiled and walked downstairs. It had been a really great day, actually. The boys had gone with the Fireside Girls to the zoo and had eaten lunch at the zoo's café. Minus the awkward moment where Baljeet had come face to face with Ginger and had been tempted to ask about his phone number being in her phone, he had had a really awesome time.

He hopped down the last step and walked into the kitchen. His mother looked up and smiled. "How was the zoo, Baljeet?"

Baljeet grinned and slid onto the stool at the counter. "A lot of fun. We saw a platypus exhibit. Too bad Phineas and Ferb are not here."

Mrs. Rai paused for a moment and blinked. "Oh, that is right. They are on that trip, are they not?"

Baljeet nodded. "Yes, yes they are."

Mrs. Rai glanced back at Baljeet. "Don't you have something you could do?"

Baljeet shuddered. "Ah, mother, watch the contractions."

The woman chuckled. "Sorry, dear. Do you have something you could do?"

Baljeet paused for a moment and his mind replayed the phone conversation he had had with Stacy earlier. "Maybe. What time is dinner?"

His mother glanced at her watch. "Around six. You have an hour and a half to kill."

Baljeet nodded and hopped off the stool. He headed for the living room and he flopped down on the couch. He glanced at his phone, which was sitting at his elbow, and he started playing around with names in his head. Who would he call?

He sighed. Why had Stacy called him? She had wanted to tell him that she appreciated what he had done for her.

Baljeet shook his head. He had never realized that Stacy was failing math. She was actually quite a good student, at least when he was tutoring her.

He sighed and looked toward the kitchen. He contemplated calling his mother, and then realized that he told his mother that he loved her on a daily basis. There was no need to repeat it again. She would know.

His thoughts went to Buford, but what did he really have to thank the bully for? Wedgies? Noogies? Running him up the flagpole? He was friends with him, but there was nothing he needed to call the boy about.

He thought of Phineas and Ferb, but he told them all the time that he appreciated them. They would know…

Baljeet slumped back against the cushions and rubbed his chin. This was a toughie. Many names came to mind, a lot of them out of the country. But none of them had really ever…..

Baljeet sat up slowly and reached for the phone, his fingers scrolling through his contacts list before he even knew what he was doing. His fingers stopped on one name and he hesitated.

Yes, they had helped, and no, he had never really thanked them, but would they really want to hear from him?

He frowned and against his better judgment, he pressed call.

* * *

Candace sighed and thunked her head against the table top. Phineas and Ferb were currently on verse 54 of "Ninety Nine Bottles of Pop on the Wall," and it was driving her insane!

"Mom, Dad, please make them stop!" she groaned as she clapped her hands over her ears.

Phineas smiled. "Aw, Candace, come on, we've never gotten to the end before!"

"That's because it's the most annoying song in the known universe!" Candace cried, throwing her arms in the air.

"Linda, perhaps we should stop, at least for an early supper," Lawrence said, looking up from his mystery novel.

Linda nodded and pulled off the highway. Phineas and Ferb pressed their faces against the window in hopes of finding a good restaurant. Candace grinned; finally, they weren't singing!

Her cell buzzed as the reception restored itself and she picked it up almost immediately.

"Hello? Stacy? Tell me this is Stacy!"

Baljeet raised an eyebrow. "I cannot tell you this is Stacy, because it is not. This is Baljeet."

Candace frowned and glanced over at Phineas and Ferb. "Did you forget Phineas and Ferb's number or something?"

"No, no," Baljeet said nervously, "I called to talk to you."

Candace frowned and stood up from the table. She walked over to the other end of the RV, as far as she could be from the others.

"What is it?" she asked, wincing when she heard the harshness of her tone. She hadn't meant to sound so rude.

Baljeet paused. He wasn't so sure about this anymore. "Um, well I just wanted to, uh….thank you…I suppose."

Candace blinked and stood up straight, almost falling over as the RV took a turn. "You wanted to thank me?"

Baljeet gulped. "I am sorry for bothering you. I will just hang up."

"No, no, no!" Candace said quickly. "No, what do you want to thank me for?"

Baljeet was kind of surprised. He hadn't exactly expected to get Candace's attention, and now he didn't know what to say. "Just, um…do you remember the advice you gave me a few months ago? After Mishti went back home?"

Candace smiled slightly. "Yeah, yeah I remember. You wanted to thank me for that little piece of advice? Phineas and Ferb could have given you that advice!"

Baljeet shrugged. "But they did not. You did."

Candace chuckled and tried to keep her balance as the RV stopped. "I guess I did. Why did you call to tell me this?"

Baljeet scuffed his foot against the carpet. "Well, I received a call, and I decided to call someone that I appreciated. The caller asked me who I would call with my last five minutes, you know, to tell that I appreciated them. I thought about it, and I called you. Because of the advice that you gave me."

Candace smiled. "Well, thanks Baljeet. I sure hope the day never comes when you need to call me in your last five minutes, but it's nice to know you would."

"Candace!" her father called. "We're stopping for supper!"

Candace sighed. "Sorry Baljeet. We're having dinner. We'll see you when we get back, Ok?"

Baljeet smiled. "All right. Have fun on your trip."

Candace hung up the phone and walked back into the main room. Her mother had parked the car, and Phineas and Ferb were feeding Perry before they went into the restaurant.

"Who was on the phone dear?" Linda asked her daughter as she opened the door.

Candace glanced at her phone. "A friend. You guys ready to eat?"

Phineas bounced up and grinned. "Yup. I'm starved!"

The boys hopped out of the car with the rest of the family, and they weren't even halfway to the door of the restaurant when Candace heard, "53 bottles of pop on the wall, 53 bottles of pop!"

Candace groaned. It was going to be a long trip.

* * *

Baljeet grinned and hung up the phone. That had gone much better than he had expected.

He walked into the kitchen to find his mother mixing something in the blender. Mrs. Rai glanced down and smiled. "Do you want to help me prepare dinner, honey?"

Baljeet nodded. "Of course, mother."

"Who were you talking to?" she asked, motioning to the phone in Baljeet's hand.

Baljeet stuck his phone back in his pocket and smiled as he washed his hands. "I needed to speak with someone."

Mrs. Rai smiled. "Why don't you start making the salad, Baljeet?"

Baljeet groaned. "Mother! Contractions!"

Mrs. Rai grinned and turned back to the blender. "Sorry, dear."

* * *

**A little shorter, but I didn't need a flashback for this chapter. **

**Candace and Baljeet never interact on screen, but I feel like he would go to her for advice. **

**Who's up next? Who will Candace call? Review to find out!**


	7. Candace

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. That's it. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Candace woke up to the sound of rain splattering on the RV's roof. She sighed and got out of bed, glancing over at Phineas and Ferb. Both boys were still asleep, and she smiled. Ah, privacy.

She headed over to the bathroom and walked in, staring at her phone and praying for some reception.

Nothing.

Candace sighed and splashed some water on her face to wake her up. She walked out of the bathroom and glanced into the front of the RV. Her mother was curled up in her seat, sleeping, and her dad was driving quietly, the radio playing softly.

She glanced at the floor and spotted Perry lying at her mother's feet. It was either her imagination, or the platypus really did look frazzled.

He father caught sight of her and smiled. "Good morning, Candace," he said softly.

Candace smiled. "Morning Dad."

Lawrence glanced at the dashboard. "It's only 7 in the morning. Why are you up so early?"

Candace raised an eyebrow. "Early? Dad, this is the time Phineas and Ferb get up every day."

Lawrence nodded. "Touché. But we aren't stopping for breakfast for another half hour."

Candace rolled her eyes. "We're just going to end up stopping for donuts anyway," she said. Her dad chuckled and Candace walked out of the front of the RV. She sat down at the table and drummed her fingers lightly on the surface. Perry came crawling into the room, satisfied now that someone else was awake, and that Lawrence would hopefully be able to stay awake. Candace glanced down and picked the platypus up in a rare show of affection.

"What am I going to do for half an hour, Perry?" she asked quietly.

Perry chattered softly and Candace stroked his head gently. "It's too bad there isn't any reception out here. I could call people."

She paused and gave a small chuckle. "I got this weird call last night, Perry," she said quietly. Perry glanced up at her.

"It was from Baljeet," she murmured, "and he wanted to tell me that he'd call me with his last five minutes."

Perry blinked in surprise. The last he'd heard of the five minutes thing was when Lawrence had taken him for a walk the other night. He chattered to let Candace know he was listening.

"It was about some advice that I gave him…I didn't think that it was important at the time."

* * *

_Candace glanced up as she heard a sigh. She spotted Baljeet walking down the street, his hands in his pockets and his head down. _

_She frowned. She and Baljeet weren't all that close, but she did care for the boy. Like she did for all of Phineas and Ferb's friends. _

"_Baljeet?" she called hesitantly. "Are you ok?"_

_Baljeet glanced up at Candace and gave a small smile. "I'm fine."_

_Candace didn't know why, but she felt compelled to go after the boy. She walked alongside him for almost ten minutes before he spoke._

"_I like Mishti a lot, but I do not know what to do!" he finally cried._

_Candace raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected that comment. "What do you mean?"_

_Baljeet glanced up at her. "She went back home last week, and I want to call her, but I do not know what to say. Buford told me that I was not cool enough to have a girlfriend, so I do not know what I should do."_

_Candace smiled. "I think you should just talk to her. Don't try to be cool, be yourself."_

_Baljeet glanced up at Candace. "You are saying that I am not cool?"_

_Candace winced. "Kind of, yeah. But it's clear to me that Mishti liked you for you, and I don't think she cares if you're cool or not."_

_Baljeet looked up. "Really? You do?"_

_Candace nodded. "I do. Just be yourself, Baljeet. You'll get farther in life with that. If I tried to be different, Jeremy would probably sit me down and scold me for not trying to bust Phineas and Ferb." _

_Baljeet smiled. "I think you are right. Thank you, Candace."_

* * *

Candace looked out the window for a while, thinking. Finally, she turned back to Perry. "Who should I call? I know I don't have to call someone, but Baljeet really got me thinking about this. He called me about such a common piece of advice."

She frowned and ran her fingers through Perry's fur.

"I mean, Mom and Dad, yeah, but they know. They know. So do Phineas and Ferb. And Stacy."

She paused for a moment. "I would call Jeremy, but I tell him all the time that I love him. You know, as a boyfriend and best friend."

Perry smirked in her lap and glanced up. She looked really conflicted. He was glad he didn't have to think of this.

Candace smiled and pulled out her cell phone, just as the RV turned off of the highway and into a small town. Candace looked up as her mother walked in. "Mom, what state are we in?"

Her mother cracked her back and thought for a moment. "Arizona."

Candace nodded and her father pulled into the parking lot of a donut store. He turned the RV off and headed out the door. "Be back in a jiff!" he called.

Candace got up and headed out the door. She leaned against the side of the RV and pulled out her phone, delighted to see that she had three bars. Perry rested at her feet. She glanced through her contacts, and glanced back at the RV. She had someone to call, of course, but not for her benefit.

She was amazed to find that she had the number in her contacts, but of course, it wasn't really that incredible when she thought about it.

Vanessa sighed as yet another explosion made the floor of her room shake. Of course she just had to stay with her dad this week.

\the floor was shaking so much that she didn't even notice her phone was vibrating until she picked it up. She answered quickly and moved as far from the door as possible so that she could hear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Vanessa?" Candace said, not noticing Perry stiffen at her feet. "It's Candace."

Vanessa grinned. "Hey Candace! I thought you guys were out of town?"

"We are. We're on a road trip, and I needed to call you."

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "You needed to?"

Candace nodded. "Yeah. Um, you remember when you went around the world with us?"

Perry almost choked. Phineas and Ferb had caught Vanessa? Whoa, bizarre.

"Yeah, of course. What about it?"

Candace paused. She wasn't sure this counted as being grateful, or if this was a good call idea for her last five minutes, but it was something she would want to tell the girl, even if it was a little odd.

"Um, look, I just thought I'd tell you, I finally found out that Ferb is short for Frank. I asked him after we got home."

Vanessa laughed. "You called to tell me that?"

"Well, and something else. I was talking to Ferb, and it occurred to me that he has a little crush on you."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "He does? Aw, that's so cute!"

Candace twirled her hair around her finger. "Yeah, but he was kind of upset. He bought you a rose while you guys were in Paris, but you left before he could give it to you."

Vanessa sat up and frowned. "Oh no, I didn't realize that. I feel so bad now!"

Candace chuckled. "Come over when we get back. I'm sure he'd love to see you."

Vanessa laughed. "Should you really be telling me this?"

Candace shrugged. "Well, I got a call that asked me who I would call with my last five minutes of life, and I realized that if no one ever told you, Ferb probably wouldn't himself."

Vanessa grinned. "Aw, well thanks Candace."

A large explosion was heard in the background and Candace frowned. "What was that?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "My dad. Got to go make sure he's ok."

The girls said goodbye and Candace hopped back onto the RV, intent on getting a glazed donut before Phineas.

Vanessa groaned as she spotted her father dangling from a light fixture. "Dad…" she groaned.

Dr. D smiled sheepishly. "A little help?"

Vanessa smiled and went to help him, all the while thinking of the little green haired boy she needed to apologize to.

* * *

**And…..now what?**

**R and R!**


	8. Vanessa

**Yea, Vanessa's POV! Wonder who she'll call…**

**Only one person got this one, and it was **_**tiff0795. **_**Nice job, you're on a roll! Don't spoil it!**

**I am seriously having a great time reading your guys' thoughts on who you'd call. this story got me thinking as well. HOnestly, this has been my favorite story to write, except maybe my first one. **

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Vanessa groaned and fell face down onto her bed. She had finally managed to get her father untangled from the ceiling, just for Norm to come in and get them all tangled in it again.

Now, two hours later, she was completely exhausted. It was moments like these where she would have been grateful if Perry had come crashing into the room to defeat her father. At least she wouldn't have had to endure Norm and her father for an hour and a half.

She sat up slowly and glanced at her cellphone, noticing immediately that she had a new text from Lacey.

_Hey girl, what are you up to?_

Vanessa sat back against her headboard and frowned, wondering how exactly to respond to the girl. Lacey knew of Vanessa's dad and what he did, but she didn't know the full extent.

How do you explain getting tangled next to a robot in the freaking longest extension cord ever?

_Nothing much, just ignoring my Dad._

Vanessa twirled the phone in her fingers, waiting for a response. She glanced at the phone again and went back to her thinking about her conversation with Candace from earlier.

She smiled. It was really sweet of Ferb to have gotten her a rose, and Vanessa honestly felt really bad that she had left. She could have stayed for another minute or two, right?

It's not like anything bad would have happened, Perry just would have had to wait for a little longer.

Vanessa sighed and flipped upside down on her bed. Candace had told her that she would call her in her last five minutes.

Vanessa looked at her phone again. She would have called her not for her own gain, but for Ferb's.

_She must be an awesome sister,_ Vanessa thought.

The Goth sighed and turned onto her stomach. Who would she call with her last five minutes of life? Why would she call them? They were hard questions, ones the girl had never considered before.

Her mind went to her mom, but despite Vanessa getting older, she had never ceased telling her mom that she loved her. The same thing went for her father, no matter how evil he seemed to be.

She thought of Ferb, but she felt that it wouldn't do any good. Besides, she didn't even have his number.

She glanced at her phone as it vibrated to see that Lacey had sent her another text, but Vanessa didn't even open her phone. She thought of Johnny, but she hadn't seen much of him lately.

Even Perry the Platypus popped into her head, but it occurred to Vanessa that it was probably impossible to hold a conversation with someone who couldn't talk.

Vanessa sighed as yet another explosion rocked the room. She would never understand why the people who worked on the lower floors never quit, or why the police never showed up to arrest her father for disturbing the peace. She was grateful that they hadn't though. She might get annoyed by her father, but she loved him and didn't want to see him in jail.

Vanessa suddenly sat up as a thought entered her mind. Almost everything her dad had done that Perry had destroyed was grounds for jailing, whether it was stolen items or illegal parking. But he had never been jailed, except for that one time at the store.

Why was that?

Vanessa realized with a start that it probably had something to do with the OWCA.

Suddenly, she knew who to call. She stood up and burst out of her room, cocking her head at her father who was dangling by one leg from a pipe.

"Dad, where's our OWCA directory?"

Dr. D scowled at his seemingly upside down daughter. "Now what makes you think that I-?"

Vanessa glared at him and he sighed and crossed his arms. "In the bottom drawer of my desk."

* * *

Carl sighed and leaned back in his chair. There was absolutely _nothing_ going on anywhere, and he was bored to tears.

Even mopping the floors sounded better than just watching the screen in front of him and waiting for someone to do something.

He glanced at his iPod, sitting on the table next to him, and he threw it on 'shuffle', hoping that it would cure some boredom.

The song "Live Like We're Dying" had just started when his phone rang. He picked it up and glanced at the number. He frowned when he didn't recognize it, but answered it anyway, pulling one ear bud out so that he could hear.

"Hello?" he said, kicking his feet up onto the table and thinking in the back of his head that Monogram would kill him if he saw him doing this.

"Hi, is this Carl?" said a girl's voice from the other end.

Carl sat straight up and his feet fell to the floor. Girls _never _called him. "Why yes, yes it is. Who's this?"

Vanessa bit her lip and twirled around in her desk chair, glancing at the open directory on her desk. "This is Vanessa Doofenshmirtz."

Carl's eyes widened and he shook his head, sure that the ear bud in his other ear was making him hear incorrectly. "Excuse me, did you say Vanessa _Doofenshmirtz_?"

Vanessa frowned. "Yeah. Why?"

Carl paused. "It's just…how did you get my number?"

Vanessa shrugged. "My Dad's OWCA directory."

Carl almost fell over. "How did he get one of those? Only authorized personnel can obtain them!" he cried.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Beats me. Look, Carl, there's a reason I called you."

Carl raised an eyebrow. "And that reason is?"

Vanessa bit her lip. "Um, I wanted to say thank you. Not just to you, but to the whole OWCA."

Carl did fall out of his chair this time. He hit his head on the table and rubbed it as he sat up. "Pardon?"

Vanessa tugged lightly on her ear. "Well, my Dad could've been arrested a bunch of times now, and you guys have all the footage to prove it."

Carl scoffed. "Footage? We don't have any-"

"Save it," Vanessa interrupted. "I know that you guys put up camera's in the apartment. By the way, thanks for not putting any in my room."

Carl winced. "Well, Doofenshmirtz doesn't go in there very often, so….what were you saying? Before?"

"Like I was saying, you guys never arrested him. And I wanted to thank you. I don't think I could go through life with my Dad in jail. I guess I should really be thanking Perry, since he's the one who defeats him every day, but I figured that if I called him you would hear about it. So…..yeah."

Carl slid back into his chair and switched his phone to his other ear, taking out his headphones all together. "What made you want to call me?"

Vanessa rubbed her neck. "I got a call from one of my friends, and she told me to think about who I would call if I only had five minutes left to live."

Carl blinked and glanced at his iPod. The song that had just been on had been talking about who you would call with your last goodbyes.

Creepy.

"Well, thanks," Carl said slowly. "That means a lot that you would have called to tell us that. And by the way, the reason your Dad has never been arrested?"

"Yeah?" Vanessa said hesitantly.

Carl coughed. "I suggested to Major Monogram that we only arrest the person if he or she succeeded in their plan. Since Perry always beats your father, we've never had to arrest him. That one time in the store, well, those were actual police, not the OWCA."

Vanessa grinned. "Thank you so much, then, Carl. I really appreciate that."

Carl nodded. "No problem. Bye Vanessa."

Vanessa snapped her phone shut and sat it down on her desk. She flipped the directory closed and tossed it into her desk drawer, smiling widely.

"Vanessa! Help me!" her father cried from the lab.

Vanessa rolled her eyes and stood. "Coming Dad!"

* * *

Carl closed his phone slowly and put it on the table. He picked up his iPod and turned it off. He wrapped the headphones around it and tucked it into his pocket.

"Carl, who were you just talking to?" Monogram asked as he stepped into the room.

Carl hesitated, and then decided that it would probably be better if the Major didn't know about the call Vanessa had given him.

"One of my friends," Carl said, not meeting the man's eye.

Monogram nodded. "Well, seeing as there's nothing to do around here, I suppose that's fine."

Carl looked down at his phone as the Major walked away. Vanessa had given him something to really think about.

"Actually," he said, more to himself than Monogram, "there's a whole lot to do."

* * *

**I was going to have Vanessa call Perry, and then I pictured the speaking dilemma in my head. So no. Perry's coming in somewhere else.**

**Now who will Carl call?**

**And yes! I actually proofread this one, unlike the last chapter. **

**Review!**


	9. Carl

**Carl's call! Yea! So many people guessed Phineas…..sorry to say it, but they were wrong. There's someone a little more unique that he's calling. No one guessed who it was, which surprised me a little. **

**Anyway, I don't own Phineas and Ferb, blah blah blah. Must we do this every time?**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Carl spun around in his chair for the fifth time in ten minutes, much to the annoyance of Major Monogram. Said Major thumped his coffee onto the table and looked at Carl. The intern immediately thumped his feet onto the floor and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, sir."

Monogram sighed. "Carl, why don't you go home? I don't have anything else for you to do today, so you can leave now."

Carl hopped to his feet and grinned. "Thank you sir! See you tomorrow!"

Major Monogram gave an absentminded wave as Carl fled from the room.

Carl slid into his car and peeled out of the parking lot of the OWCA, probably breaking a few laws. The boy, at the moment, didn't care. He was finally out of there! He'd been so bored that he was ready to eat his shoe, just to find out how it tasted.

Carl shuddered at the thought and came to a gentle stop at the stop sign. He glanced down the street and turned left.

He smiled as he passed the Flynn-Fletcher household. He never told Monogram, but his route home always took him past the house, and every now and then he would step out to say hi to the boys. They had become fast friends since Carl had come over to try out the anti-gravity fun launcher, and he had even stayed for dinner before.

Carl chuckled and turned right. He had made Perry promise not to tell Monogram that he stopped by, and the platypus agreed. He had been tense when Carl was there at first, but Perry had loosened up a bit when he realized that Carl had no intention of spilling his secret, whether accidentally or on purpose. The boy was just too careful, and he knew how much Perry cared for the boys.

It was too bad that the whole family was on vacation now, because Carl would have definitely stopped to relieve his boredom.

Carl turned into his driveway and turned off the car. He slid into the house and sighed with happiness. Finally, something to do!

It was then that Carl realized he didn't _know_ what to do. The boy sighed and flopped onto his couch, grabbing at his curly red hair in aggravation. He thumped his arms onto the arm rests on the sofa and sighed, glancing around the house.

It was a small, old fashioned red brick house that had two bedrooms; one for Carl, and one for any guests he had. It had a small kitchen, 1 bathroom, a living room, and a den. It was all one floored, and Carl hated it.

He sighed and leaned back on the cushion. The house was always empty, except when he was home. That was the reason he was at work so often. He was considering adopting a pet, but if Monogram found out he'd probably just want it as an agent.

Carl lifted himself from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He poured himself a bowl of cereal, which he considered an "any time food," and sat at the table, munching it quietly.

There really was nothing to do, the intern thought as he sat there, his chin in his hand. He was so bored, so lonely…his mother would tell him to go and get a girl-friend. The boy chuckled at the thought.

"Yeah right," he muttered out loud. It never worked. Anytime he approached a girl that was his age, 24, they always saw him as a much younger child.

"Stupid theme song makes everyone thinks I just graduated high school," Carl murmured to himself.

He poked at his cereal for a bit longer before realizing that he at least had something to think about. Vanessa's question from earlier was still fresh in his mind:

"If you had five minutes to call someone before you died, who would you call?"

The curly haired intern sat for a moment, chewing slowly as he considered this.

Honestly, his first thought wasn't his mother, or Monogram. It was Phineas and Ferb. Carl smiled faintly to himself. Those two boys had made his life a lot better the last few months, and the entire family had grown on him, even Candace. He slid his bowl away from him and considered this thought.

He wanted to tell them what they meant to him, but he felt that there was someone he might be able to call that meant a little more to him.

His phone vibrated and he groaned when he saw that it was work.

"Carl? Sorry to bother you when I just sent you home, but Agent C needs a distraction for his owners. Get over here pronto!"

Carl sighed. "Sir, I was in the middle of some-"

"Sorry Carl, this is urgent."

There was a click and a dial tone that told Carl that Monogram had hung up. The intern slid back his chair and threw his bowl into the sink, milk sloshing up the sides and onto the counter. He stormed into the living room and grabbed his keys, walked out the door (slamming it behind him), and hopped into his car.

He peeled out of his driveway, angrily pounding his foot on the gas.

Monogram just had to call. It was always like that, though. The Major had decided that because Carl needed the college credit, he would just do anything any time. Carl didn't mind most of the time, but this was a waste of gas and time.

He should just move into the agency headquarters!

Carl flew around the corners, arriving at the agency in record time. He stomped into the main office, switched the keys in his hand for the ones that went to the ice cream van, and peeled out of that driveway without a word to anyone, heading for Agent C's house.

Of course Monogram thought he could call Carl anytime, he was an intern. But, there was a fine line that made Carl the most annoyed person in the world. And that fine line was crossed just a little too much, in his opinion.

Carl knew he wasn't just an intern. He knew it. He knew that, without him, the agency would probably crumble. No one to stall the host families, no one to help with the training of the young recruits, no one to fix the technology when it broke.

He flipped the switch on the dashboard to play the typical ice cream man song and he slowed down as he reached Elm Street. Sure enough, seconds later, he spotted Agent C's owners racing towards him, Agent C quickly sneaking away with a broad smile to Carl in the background. Monogram's instructions from a few weeks ago played in his ears.

"_If the agent gets away before you've given out ice cream, don't give it out. We're having enough budget cuts as it is."_

Carl scowled and then broke into a bright smile as the kids ran up.

Screw Monogram and him thinking of Carl as nothing but an intern. He was giving these kids ice cream.

As he handed out a chocolate cone with rainbow sprinkles to a little girl with blonde curls, he suddenly knew who he was going to call.

He just had to get home first.

* * *

Perry smiled and relaxed, sinking quietly into his basket. Linda was driving, so he wasn't worried about crashing, Phineas, Ferb, and Candace were playing Skiddley Whiffers, so he knew that they wouldn't be fighting-or inventing-, and Lawrence was reading.

It couldn't be more perfect, what with the silence in the RV, only broken by a noise from the board game, and the rumbling of the road directly under his stomach. He felt relaxed for the first time in days.

And then his watch beeped.

Perry scowled and slid out of his basket. He walked carefully onto the underside of the RV and sat down in his little chair that he had stationed there.

He then turned on the screen and glared down at the image that appeared on it.

He didn't expect Carl. The intern looked sheepish, and Perry could tell almost immediately that the boy wasn't at headquarters, based on the comfortable, if slightly messy, den scene behind him.

"Hi, Agent P. I'm sorry if I bothered you…I know you're on vacation."

Perry nodded slowly and motioned for him to go on.

Carl sighed. "Look, I was thinking, and I realized that I really needed to call you. Um, see, I got a call from someone, who-"

Perry's jaw almost fell as he heard those first words. He heard Carl, of course, saying how he'd called him with his last five minutes, but Perry barely registered it. He was flabbergasted, wondering how on earth the calls had circled to Carl. And then he realized that Carl was calling his name.

"Agent P? Agent P! Perry!"

Perry snapped out of his trance and stared at Carl in disbelief, a small smile curving onto his bill. Carl smiled hesitantly.

"But, I wanted to say thank you. You know, for never treating me like an intern."

Perry blinked and cocked his head in confusion. What?

Carl grinned. "It's just; you've always treated me like family, so thank you. You didn't tell Monogram that I've visited Phineas and Ferb, and…that means a lot to me. I don't really have anyone at home to keep me company, and Monogram isn't fun to hang out with…your owners have got to be the closest things that I have to real friends."

Perry raised an eyebrow at the intern and motioned to himself hesitantly. Carl smiled broadly. "Yeah, and you too. Just, thanks. Again. If I had only five minutes left, I would call you. I know it. And I just needed to tell you that. I wish Monogram would realize that I'm not just an intern the way you and some of the other agents do."

It was true. Perry knew that the organization would never go on without Carl…or any of the interns, for that matter. Perry just treated him like he did everyone. He had never realized that Monogram took Carl for granted. The platypus would be having a long chat with the Major when his vacation was over.

"Anyway, I have to go. My computer's about to die. Thanks again, and have a good rest of your vacation!"

Perry smiled and saluted the intern before he hung up. He went back up to the RV and saw that Phineas and Ferb were now reading and Candace was surfing the internet on her computer.

He had just settled back into his basket when Linda came out of the front of the RV. Perry hadn't even realized that they had stopped for gas, and now Lawrence was driving.

Perry groaned and slipped into the front of the RV. He settled down onto the floor, feeling the motor rumbling under him. He smiled.

Actually, this wasn't too bad.

* * *

Carl shut his laptop down with a deep sigh of relief. He'd been afraid that Perry would hang up on him, or not even answer.

But he felt so much better now. The platypus obviously thought of Carl as family, and that delighted the boy. It was nice to know that there were agents out there who would risk themselves to protect you.

Carl never realized it, but him calling Perry had just guaranteed that the monotreme would always be there for him.

* * *

**Mushy, yes, but this was my favorite chapter to write so far. We hardly know anything about Carl, so I was really looking forward to this call. **

**And yes, I think cereal is an any time food. I eat it morning, noon, and night. **

**I know I made Monogram a little harsh, but I feel like he is like that sometimes. **

**R and R!**


	10. Perry

**Yea! Perry's call! Many people got the person right, but not the way Perry was going to call them. **

**This story is making me think, and it makes me smile to know that you guys are thinking about who you would call as well.**

**There are six more chapters, so be prepared! And I decided to make a spin off from this and make a one shot about how Candace learned to like her father and Ferb (You know, based on the chapter where Lawrence called Stacy). **

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Perry sighed and glanced around the quiet RV. The family had stopped for dinner ten minutes ago at some steak house, and now Perry was resting quietly inside of his bed.

He had been thinking about what Carl had told him a few hours ago, and he was stumped. He'd begun thinking of who he would call in his last five minutes since Ferb had mentioned it…what, almost five days ago? But he'd been so busy trying to make sure Lawrence didn't accidentally crash the RV that he really hadn't gotten anywhere in his thoughts.

So now, with the family not here, was the perfect time to think about it.

He sighed again and turned over in his bed. Carl had surprised him by calling him, but when Perry had heard why he called him, he had to admit that it made sense.

The first problem Perry knew he had to overcome was the language barrier. Obviously, unless he wanted to limit his call options, he had to find some way to communicate with whoever he called.

His eyes perused the RV and landed on Ferb's cellphone, sitting on the table. Ah ha. Perfect.

He knew that the family would be eating for at least another hour, so he got up and pulled Ferb's phone into his hand. He sat back down in his bed.

That still left the dilemma of who to call.

Perry knew for a fact that if he actually was about to die, he'd use his last five minutes to call-text, in his case- Phineas and Ferb and tell them everything, or at least as much as he could before he died. He'd tell them he loved them. But he couldn't do that now, or he'd be relocated.

Obviously.

Perry smiled briefly. So….was there someone else he needed to call instead of Phineas and Ferb? Someone he needed to talk to, or thank?

Of course he couldn't actually talk to them, but a text would suffice.

His thumb went over the sleek cover of the cellular device in his hand and he thought for a moment.

He could always text Monogram, tell him to ease up on Carl and the other interns. But that was a conversation he would have when he got back to Danville. He could call Pinky, to thank him for keeping an eye on his boys when he couldn't and thank him for being a good friend.

But Pinky already knew that Perry was grateful and Perry knew that Pinky was grateful to him as well, for watching out for Isabella when need be.

Perry frowned and thumped his chin into his fist.

This was tougher than he'd thought.

He sighed and flipped onto his back, the phone lying on his stomach. It suddenly occurred to Perry that he did have someone he should call, someone that he needed to apologize to and needed to thank.

He searched his brain, trying to recall the person's cell phone number. He'd only seen it twice, and memorizing things was never Perry's best subject in the training academy.

He pulled out his hat, only with him in case of an emergency, and pulled out his contacts list as a last resort.

Amazingly, the number was there.

* * *

Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz sighed and swept up the last of the debris from his floor. He dumped it into the trashcan and leaned the broom against the wall.

"You know, Norm," he muttered, "I think I liked it better when Perry the Platypus destroyed my –inators instead of myself."

Norm walked over and sat down with a clunk next to the scientist. "But sir, you still had to clean it up when he left," he pointed out.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz nodded. "Well, yes, but….look, stop using logic on me! Did I even program that into you?" he cried.

Norm stood up and walked away before Heinz could go any further. Dr. D sighed and yanked out his cellphone as it rang.

"What?" he said harshly into his phone.

He frowned a moment later. "Oh, Chuck, sorry. I thought you were…never mind. What's up?"

He listened for a moment and grinned. "No way. You got my boom juice? That's terrific! When and where can I get it?"

He paused and grimaced. "Really? So far away? Ok, well, I'll be there in a day or two. Thanks Chuck. Ok. Ok. See you then!"

He hung up his cell and began bouncing around the room. "Yeah! Hey Vanessa!" he called into his daughters room.

Vanessa walked out, her iPod in one hand and a book in the other. Dr. D looked startled at the sight of the book, but he got over it quickly when he remembered what he wanted to tell Vanessa.

"Honey, you're going back to your mother's tonight, right?"

Vanessa nodded slowly. "Yeah, why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Chuck got my shipment of boom juice, and I need to go pick it up in Nevada. I didn't want you here alone."

Vanessa gave a small smile. "That's fun, Dad. Be careful driving home, ok?" she said, draping her headphones around her neck. Dr. D blinked and rubbed his ear.

"I'm either hearing things, or my daughter just told me to be careful," he commented in disbelief.

Vanessa smiled and kissed her Dad on the cheek. "Well, you're going to be driving a bunch of explosives home. I just don't want you to blow up. Again."

Dr. D chuckled and Vanessa went back to her room to grab the few things she needed to go to her mother's house. She walked out with her purse and nodded to her father. "See you later Dad."

Dr. Doofenshmirtz held up a hand. "Hold on. I'm going to have Norm take you home, all right?"

Vanessa smiled. "Fine, Dad. Come on Norm, let's go."

The robot followed Vanessa out the door and Dr. D walked into his room and packed an overnight bag. He locked his apartment and walked down the stairs. He climbed into his truck and headed for Nevada.

He'd only been driving for twenty minutes when his phone buzzed, signaling that he had a text. Doof sighed and pulled off the road to read it (what, he's evil, not criminal!).

He opened up his cell and glanced at the number. He was surprised to find that the number was blocked. Dr. D shrugged and opened it anyway. He whistled at the length of it and began reading.

_Dr. Doofenshmirtz:_

_I will not reveal the number that I am texting this from, nor will I tell you my location. So don't ask. But I have a different thing to tell you._

_I want to thank you, first of all. For not destroying me during our routine fights. You don't know this, but I have a family. I don't know if you suspected or not, but either way, you always made the traps easy to escape from and you never actually hurt me badly (the sandpaper factory incident aside). So thank you._

_And I also wanted to apologize. Yes, apologize. I'm sorry that I always destroyed your machines. It's my job, but I know that you worked hard on them, and I just come in and press a self-destruct button and all your hard work goes to waste. _

_I told you this because I got a call from somebody. Obviously, I can't call, so that's why you were texted instead, but they asked me who I would call if I had five minutes left to live. I thought of a few people of course, but I needed to tell you what I wrote above. _

_I'd advise you to think of whom you would call, Heinz, and maybe put the thought to action. It made me feel better about myself and what I do every day. _

_And just to tell you, if I ever did…pass away…during one of our daily battles, my home address can be found in my hat. If you try to touch it while I'm alive, I will obviously destroy you, but if it should ever come to it, I'd want you to return me to my family and tell them what happened. _

_So thank you again, and I'm sorry once more. _

_Your frenemy, _

_Perry the Platypus_

Dr. Doofenshmirtz sat back against his seat for a long time, staring at the note, re-reading the last paragraph over and over again. It kind of stunned him that the platypus would entrust him with this information.

Dr. D bit his lip and realized that he was trembling. No one had ever told him anything like that, and it touched him to his evil heart. He wasn't sure if you could respond to a blocked number, but he wanted to try anyway.

* * *

Perry was pacing the RV nervously. He still had a few minutes before the family came back, because they had decided to get dessert, and he was waiting for Heinz to text him back.

He had been unsure as to whether or not he should add the last part, but he was glad he had. He was also glad that he'd been in Candace's room when she and Stacy had been discussing how to block cell numbers. Teenage girls did have their moments.

Ferb's phone buzzed and Perry had it open in seconds, scanning the page. What he read made him grin.

_Perry the Platypus:_

_Thank you. That meant a lot to me. _

_And just to tell you, even if I did know the name or address of your family, I would never try to endanger them. If there are children in the household (which I assume there are), I wouldn't ever think of hurting them. It would be like hurting my own daughter. _

_You've given me a lot to think about. _

_Doofenshmirtz_

Perry gave a huge smile, deleted the message from Ferb's phone, and set the mobile device back on the table. He hopped back into his bed just as the rest of the family walked in, chatting and holding leftover containers.

"See, I told you that you didn't lose your phone, Ferb," Phineas said, pointing to the boys cell on the table. "Perry guarded it for you!"

Ferb chuckled and knelt next to the platypus. He patted him. "Thanks for guarding my phone, boy," he said jokingly.

Perry smiled and as the RV started up again, he fell back asleep.

* * *

Doofenshmirtz was back on the road, still on his way to Nevada, but now he had something to think of.

The fact that Perry had confessed something like that to him…it made him feel trustworthy, which never happened for evil scientists.

He glanced at his phone, which was sitting on the seat next to him. Come to think of it, he had never seen Perry with a cell phone. Which meant….

Dr. D picked up his cell phone, flipped it open to the text that Perry had sent, and after a moment's pause, deleted it from existence.

He'd given his word. And he wouldn't back out now.

* * *

**I liked this chapter. It made me smile a little. **

**Dr. D really makes you pause and think. I don't think he'd hurt Perry's family. Even if he knew who they were. He didn't hurt Phineas or Ferb in the movie, that was his other dimension self. **

**Anyway…**

**R and R!**


	11. Dr Doofenshmirtz

**Creepy thing happened last night. I was in bed, listening to Delilah on Wish 99.7, and all of a sudden she goes "If you had five minutes left to live, who would you call and why would you call them?" Boy, did that freak me out a little, considering my story. Needless to say, I turned off the radio.**

**Scary.**

**Anyway, here's Dr. D's chapter! Read on! (I don't own Phineas and Ferb)**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Dr. Doofenshmirtz sighed and rubbed his eyes with one fist, keeping the other firmly on his steering wheel. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard and realized that it was nearing one in the morning. He sighed and pulled off the road as soon as he saw a rest stop.

He parked in a space, kicked his seat back as far as it would go, and settled back.

His thoughts began to wander and he found himself thinking of Perry's text from earlier. Perry had told him to think about who he would call in his last five minutes.

He shrugged. Why not?

He started running through the list of people he knew in his head. He'd call Vanessa or Charlene, but despite the divorce, both knew he cared about them.

His next thought, weirdly enough, swerved to Major Monogram, but he really had nothing he wanted to say to the man, except maybe a sarcastic "Thanks a lot."

He kicked his feet up on the dashboard and frowned. Rodney-sorry, Aloyse Everheart Elizabeth Otto Wolfgang Hypatia Gunther Galen Gary Cooper von Roddenstein- popped into his head, but the two men had always been more competitors than friends.

Heinz frowned and decided that he'd need a good night's sleep in order to figure this out. He turned over and curled up into a ball in his car, the question still lingering in his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

He woke up the next morning to find a man pounding on his driver's side window. Heinz sighed, sat up, turned on the truck, and rolled down the window. "Yes?" he said testily, trying not to let his annoyance at being woken up show too much. The man looked startled.

"Sorry to bother you, sir, but you aren't allowed to park here."

Dr. D narrowed his eyes. "Oh? And what makes you think that?" he said.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Um, this is a handicapped zone?" he said, motioning to the sign.

Dr. D blinked and winced. He must not have been paying attention when he parked. "Sorry. I didn't mean to park here. It was dark out and I was tired. I was…just leaving," he muttered, quickly pulling away from the spot. The man tipped his hat and Dr. D scowled back in reply.

He pulled out into the heavy highway traffic and glanced at his GPS. He only had about an hour and a half before he reached his destination, and he still had a lot to think about, starting with his thoughts from last night.

He sighed and switched lanes, his mind wandering and trying to figure out who to call.

Doof reached over and turned on the radio, not listening to the songs that were playing. For a long time, the man sat and just stared, moving instinctively when it came to driving. He was running through every person he'd ever known in his mind, and didn't think of anything else until he reached a tollbooth.

He paid the required money to go through. He glanced at the clock briefly and realized that he'd been out of it for almost an hour, and that his exit was coming up in five minutes. He cocked one ear to hear the music playing.

_I'm Lindanna and I wanna have fun, fun, fun!_

His thoughts clicked together, and he steered the car towards the exit he was supposed to take. He switched off the radio and glanced around for the nearest area to park.

He pulled into a gas station and parked his car off to the side. He pulled out his phone and dialed the operator.

"Hello, operator? I need to find the number of someone I knew a long time ago…."

* * *

Linda sighed and glanced back at her sleeping kids. It was still early, almost 7:30, and Lawrence was driving. Perry was sitting quietly on the benches surrounding the table, and he was the only one awake besides the two adults.

Linda smiled and stepped out of the front of the RV. She sat down at the table and pulled Perry into her lap. The poor platypus had probably been bored out of his mind during the trip, and she was only glad that they were going home soon for his sake.

She glanced up as Phineas and Ferb came stumbling up to her, both bleary eyed and tired. "Morning, boys," she said, ruffling Ferb's messy hair.

The boys smiled. "Morning Mom," they chorused. Phineas took Perry from his mother and the boys sat down across from her. Ferb handed his brother a breakfast bar and the two munched on them quietly.

"What are you boys going to do today?" Linda asked curiously, noting briefly that Lawrence was pulling off the highway.

Phineas shrugged. "Not sure yet, Mom. We-"

He trailed off as the RV passed a road side diner. "Oh, Mom, could we stop there? Please, please, please?" he cried.

Linda chuckled. "Phineas, I'd love to, but I don't think they're open right now. It's not even eight o'clock."

Phineas sighed. "Yeah…" he said, thumping his chin into his hand. Linda blinked as the RV stopped and she glanced out the window to see that Lawrence had pulled into a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.

She smiled and glanced at the boys. "Boys, stay here, ok? Your father and I are going to grab donuts."

Phineas and Ferb nodded, barely paying attention, and Linda and Lawrence stepped out of the RV into the early morning sun. Linda stretched and the two started for the restaurant.

"All right, we'll need at least a half dozen glazed this time, so that Phineas and Candace aren't fighting over them, and then a few of those ones covered in sprinkles, not those ones with only half covered in sprinkles-"

"Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?" Lawrence interrupted. Linda shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Heck if I know. I-"

She groaned as her phone rang. "Ok, I'll answer this and then I'll meet you inside, ok dear?" she said, pulling out her cell phone. Lawrence nodded and Linda stepped back over to the side of the RV, leaning against the exterior. She flipped open her phone and placed it to her ear.

"Hello, Linda speaking," she said.

Heinz was stunned. He hadn't actually expected to reach her, and now that he had, he didn't know what to do. "Hello?" said the voice at the other end of the line again.

Heinz quickly composed himself. "Sorry. Um, this is Linda?"

Linda rolled her eyes. Hadn't she just said that? "Yes, now who is this?" she asked, not noticing as Perry hopped out of the RV and sat at her feet.

Doofenshmirtz fiddled with his radio knob. "Um, this is Heinz. Heinz Doofenshmirtz."

Linda frowned. The name rang a bell, but she still couldn't place it. "I'm sorry; you're going to have to clarify for me."

"Um, we went on a date in high school?"

Linda raised an eyebrow. "You're going to have to be more specific," she said.

"We went to a drive in movie….you rode all the way there in my trunk…"

Linda's eyes widened. "Oh, yes, of course! Heinz! I remember you!"

Perry almost fell over and he looked up in disbelief. Surely she couldn't be speaking to the same Heinz. Linda's eyes suddenly hardened.

"Why are you calling me, and how did you get my number?" she demanded.

"Well, I called information, so that is how I got your number. As for why I'm calling….I wanted to apologize. You know, for the date. I didn't mean for it to go so badly."

Linda raised an eyebrow. "You're apologizing? Now?"

Doof chuckled nervously. "Well, yes, because I got a call from someone-well, a text, really- that asked me who I would call with my last five minutes to live."

Linda's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"No, not kidding. Look I also wanted to thank you. You remember how I wanted to take over the world?"

"Yes," Linda said slowly, sure she was dealing with a lunatic now.

"Well, I took your advice and decided to start with the Tri-State Area instead."

"Uh huh," Linda said, nodding, "and how's that going for you?"

"Not too well…but once my mayor brother is out of the way, it will be much easier!"

"Roger Doofenshmirtz is your brother?" Linda asked in surprise. Perry mentally slapped himself. Yep, same Heinz.

"Yes, yes he is. But anyway, thank you. You know, for that advice. I'm sure I'll succeed one day!"

Linda chuckled nervously. "I'm sure you will. Nice talking to you again….I guess. Bye."

She hung up quickly and glanced up as Lawrence stepped out of the shop, holding two boxes of donuts. She glanced down at Perry and shivered.

"Boy am I glad I married Lawrence," she murmured.

Perry smiled and hopped back into the RV. He was glad too.

* * *

Heinz stared at his phone and some part of his subconscious made him delete the number he had worked so hard to find. He sighed and pulled out of the gas station, breathing a sigh of relief at having gotten the call over with.

He glanced both ways and headed right, towards where he knew Chuck was storing his boom juice.

"That call went a lot better than I thought it would, Perry the Bobble head," the man murmured, stopping at a light and glancing at the wooden Perry on his dashboard.

"At least she didn't threaten to call the police."

* * *

**Yes, I made Linda a bit…paranoid about Heinz. That's just how I think she would be if Heinz actually did call her. **

**Anyway, reviews are perfectly welcome!**


	12. Linda

**Hey people! Here is Linda's call! I'm back and swinging people, because no one guessed this one, though there were some really good guesses!**

**I reference the book **_**Peter and the Starcatchers **_**in here. I don't own the book (well, I have a copy of it, but you know what I mean) and all rights to that book belong to Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I also don't own Phineas and Ferb. They belong to Dan Povenmire and Jeff Marsh….but you knew that already. **

**Forward…..READ!**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Linda sighed and kicked her feet up on the dashboard. Lawrence was driving, Phineas and Ferb were playing cards, and Candace was still reading. That girl had gotten more reading done in six days on a moving RV than she had all summer.

Linda gave a small smile. Maybe they should take road trips more often. The open road, the kids reading for a change, quality time with family…..

Constantly stopping for gas, using a tiny bathroom with cupboard doors that flew open at every turn, breaking up the fights between the kids, having to drive at night all the time.

Linda frowned. Ok, so maybe they shouldn't take road trips constantly.

She glanced at the clock and realized that it was about time for lunch, and that the kids would probably be getting hungry. She glanced at her husband, but before she could say anything, he was pulling off the highway. He glanced at her and chuckled.

"Ready to eat something, dear?"

Linda smiled, stood, and walked into the main part of the RV. Phineas looked up from his cards. "Are we stopping for lunch soon, Mom?" he asked.

Linda nodded. "Yup. Where do you kids want to go?"

Candace groaned and looked up from her book _Peter and the Starcatchers. _"Anywhere but fast food Mom. I'm sick of it!"

Linda chuckled and held her hands up in mock defeat. "Ok, Candace, no fast food, I promise!"

She glanced over at Phineas and Ferb. "What card game are you boys playing?"

Phineas looked up with a weird expression on his face. "I'm not sure. Ferb, are we playing Gin or Kings Corners?"

Ferb shrugged.

Linda rolled her eyes and glanced back as Lawrence called out, "We'll be at lunch in five minutes!"

The former pop star froze as she recalled the phone call from that morning, talking about five minutes. She frowned and sat down on one of the beds, resting her chin in her hand as she recalled the call.

She gave a small chuckle. Ha, recalled the call.

Linda shook her head. Honestly, she had no idea who she would call if she only had five minutes left to live. It was a hard question; one she didn't know how to answer.

She glanced up as Lawrence stopped in front of an Eat'n'Park and turned the RV off. He stepped up to the door and smiled, twirling the keys around his fingers.

"Who's ready to eat?" he asked with a grin.

Phineas and Ferb threw down their cards and jumped up. "I am!" Phineas cried while Ferb threw his hand in the air. Candace sighed and reluctantly marked her spot in the book. "Darn," she muttered, "and just when Peter met Teacher, too."

Linda had no idea what the girl was talking about, but then again, she had never read that particular book. She followed the kids out of the car and locked the door behind her.

Phineas skipped up next to his mother and looked up at her. "Hey Mom?"

Linda looked down. "Yeah, Phineas?"

Phineas glanced at the sign of the restaurant with a puzzled look. "Why is it called Eat'n'Park when you park first and then you eat?" **(Anyone?)**

Linda laughed and ruffled her son's hair. "Believe me; I have no idea, hon."

Phineas accepted that answer and ran to catch up with Ferb. Linda smiled and her mind wandered again, thinking of the possible people she could call.

Lawrence, of course, was first in her mind, but she realized that Heinz could have called his wife-if he even had one-with his last five minutes. And then Linda suddenly recalled that he said that he'd been called by someone. She didn't know who of course, but it made her wonder if there was more to this than just one phone call.

She stepped inside and remained silent as Lawrence asked for a table. They were seated almost immediately and handed menus. Linda stared at hers blankly.

The kids were another option, but they knew she loved them. Who on earth did she have unfinished business with?

"Linda? Linda dear? The man needs to take your order," Lawrence said, snapping Linda out of her thoughts. The waiter looked at her with an amused smile.

"Oh, sorry," she said, blushing and glancing at the menu. "I'll have the rosemary chicken* with a cup of your soup of the day and green beans."

The man nodded and tucked his book into his apron, taking the menus from the family and allowing Linda to slip back into her thinking state.

Charlene popped up in her head, but she didn't have the woman's number, and she didn't really need to settle anything with her. The same thing was true of Vivian. And all of her kid's friend's moms.

Linda sighed and began eating her soup when it arrived, realizing with disgust that it was stuffed pepper. She probably should have paid more attention to the menu.

She poked at it for a while, not listening to the conversation Phineas and Candace were having, and not noticing when Ferb managed to balance fifteen spoons on top of one another on his nose, drawing applause from the whole restaurant.

Her entrée arrived and she ate it quickly, relieved that she had remembered an item from the menu that she actually liked.

But as they stepped outside after paying the bill, she was still stuck on who to call. Lawrence rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you all right? You didn't say a word during lunch," her husband asked in worry.

Linda smiled. "I'm fine, Lawrence, I'm just thinking about something. Would you drive until we stop again?"

Lawrence nodded. "Of course."

He glanced at his wife once more and stepped inside the RV.

Phineas and Ferb hopped up before her and began feeding Perry his lunch, and Candace immediately curled back up with her book. Linda sat down and the thought started plaguing her again. She couldn't understand it, but she felt compelled to call someone….in fact, the person had just entered her mind.

Linda gulped when she realized who it was: the person who had organized Vincent's-her first husband-funeral.

She pulled out her cell phone and slowly flipped through her contacts, trying to recall his name. She couldn't remember their first name, but the last name popped into her head and she realized that she had their wife's name in her contacts list, probably from doing yoga with her for two years.

Linda glanced at the bar display on her phone and smiled as she realized that she had five bars. She gulped slowly and pressed the call button.

* * *

Major Monogram sighed and read over his reports for the day, while Carl stood quietly at the edge of his desk.

"And Doofenshmirtz is heading towards them all right now?" he asked in disbelief, glancing up at his intern. Carl nodded. "Afraid so, sir. Should we tell Agent P?"

Monogram sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Let's wait until we see what he's up to."

Carl nodded and tugged at his collar. "Sir, I…I had something I wanted to ask you."

Monogram raised half of his unibrow. "What?"

Carl bit his lip. "Sir, if I were to get a pet….you wouldn't make it part of the agency, right?"

Monogram stared at the intern and rubbed his face with his hands. "Carl, what on earth would make you think that?"

Carl frowned. "Well, you always talk about how animals are so good to work with, so I just assumed."

Monogram sighed. "Carl, you know what they say about assuming. It makes an as-"

"Sir!" Carl interrupted in horror. "There are children reading this!"

Monogram winced and glanced down. "Sorry. But Carl, I you don't want the pet to be part of the agency, all you have to do is say so."

Carl smiled. "Good sir, because I already have a pet picked out."

Monogram blinked in surprise. "What did you get?"

Carl shrugged. "A German Shepherd," he said, starting for the door.

Monogram grinned. "Isn't that a little big for you, Carl?"

Carl chuckled. "No sir. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up Grace."

Monogram glanced at the intern. "It's a girl?"

Carl raised an eyebrow. "I can't get a girl dog?"

Monogram shook his head. "No, no, it's your choice." He smiled. "I'd like to meet her someday."

Carl gave a hesitant smile and started out the door. "Thank you, sir."

He left and Monogram smiled. He sighed as the phone on his desk rang and he picked it up, fiddling with the receiver for a moment before raising it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, hon," said Charlotte, his wife. "I just received a call from someone who wanted to talk to you, but she didn't know your number. Is it all right if I give it to her?"

Monogram sat back. "Yeah, of course. What does she want?"

Charlotte shook her head. "Something about your work before the agency."

Monogram sat up straight. "Of course, give her the number!"

Charlotte hung up and Monogram set the receiver back down, waiting for it to ring.

He thought back briefly about what he had done before working for the agency. It wasn't much fun, he had to admit, being someone who organized funerals, but he'd met quite a few people out of it. He'd decided that it was too morbid, though, and he went and trained for the OWCA.

Frankly, Monogram was amazed that he had gotten so high up in the last five and a half years.

The phone rang and he snatched it off the receiver immediately. "Hello?"

Linda took a deep breath, hoping that she would be able to complete the call without crying or losing the signal. "Hello, Mr. Monogram?" she said softly.

Monogram smiled slightly. "Actually, it's Major Monogram."

Linda paused. "Are you in the military?" she asked.

Monogram hesitated. "Something like that," he said slowly. "Who am I speaking to?"

Linda gulped. "Linda Flynn-Fletcher. Um, look, I'm calling to-hello?"

Monogram was frozen in his chair. What made him worry wasn't that he was being called by one of Agent P's owners, it was the fact that the last funeral he had arranged had been for her husband. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry; I blanked out for a moment. What can I do for you, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher?"

Linda smiled slightly. "Um, I called to thank you…for what you did for my kids. I don't think they would ever have been able to cope with their father's death if you hadn't been there."

Monogram sat back in his chair. "Pardon?"

Linda gave a small chuckle and glanced out the window. The boys were playing Go-Fish now (they were almost positive they were, at least) and Candace, though still reading, now had her head phones on. "I said, thank you. It was a hard time for them."

Monogram smiled. "From what I heard from my wife, though," _and my many interns and agents, _"you're married again."

Linda glanced down at her ring, glinting lightly in the sun shining through the window. "Yeah. I have been for about four and a half years. I got a wonderful husband and son out of it."

Monogram smiled. "I'm glad I was able to help, but why are you thanking me for this now?"

Linda laughed. "I got a call from somebody who asked me to think about who I would call in my last five minutes of life. It got me thinking, and I realized that I was too upset to ever actually thank you for your help with my kids."

Monogram nodded. "It was the least I could do. It was nice to hear from you again. I know you and Charlotte keep in touch."

Linda smiled. "Yes, yes we do."

Monogram glanced up as Agent D stepped into his office. The Major held up a finger and turned back to the phone. "Anyway, thank you for the call. Have fun on your vacation."

He hung up the phone and then slapped his forehead. Agent D gave him a weird look. Monogram sighed.  
"I'm not supposed to know they're on vacation," he explained to the dog.

Agent D sniggered and stepped out of the office guffawing. Monogram scowled after the dog and rolled his eyes, glancing at a pile of papers that Carl had given him before he had left.

Even with the call still on his mind, he had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Linda blinked in surprise as the Major hung up the phone, and then she shrugged. Charlotte must have told him that they were on vacation.

She snapped her phone shut and slid it into her pocket. Phineas and Ferb walked up and sat across from her. "So, who won Go Fish?" she asked curiously.

Phineas looked at Ferb. "Go Fish? I thought we were playing Poker!"

Ferb snorted. "That explains a lot," the boy murmured.

Linda chuckled. "Phineas, do you even know how to play Poker?"

Phineas frowned. "No, but I can make it up as we go!"

Linda burst into laughter and the boys glanced at each other and started giggling as well. Linda smiled at the two and realized that the call had been worth it.

Candace looked up from her book. "Geez, you guys are loud! Could you keep it down? I'm trying to read _Peter and the Starcatchers!_"

Phineas snorted and nudged Ferb. "Are you sure that's what you're reading, Candace?"

Candace looked at the cover in confusion. "Am I sure that's- yes of course I'm sure!"

Linda chuckled. Ah, her kids.

* * *

***The rosemary chicken at Eat'n'Park is seriously amazing. It's my favorite course on the menu. I recommend you try it!**

**No one expected that call! I decided to dive into Monogram's past a little, and also show you how the other calls were affecting certain people. **

**I will explain, believe me. It's been a while since I had to do a flashback, huh? And I'm in the midst of the spin off!**

**R and R!**


	13. Major Monogram

**Here's….MONOGRAM!**

**I'm messed up today. Just a little. My mom is driving me bonkers. She's really milking her foot surgery all she can. I'm amazed that I haven't exploded yet. **

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Major Monogram sighed, threw down his pen, and rubbed his face in exhaustion. He glanced blearily at the clock on the wall and groaned when he realized that it was almost midnight.

"Great," he muttered, "another night at the office."

He stood and walked around the room, stretching his back and picking up his pen from the floor. He returned to his desk, where he was busy filling out new recruit forms and he sighed, shoving them back.

He honestly just wanted to go to bed and not have to worry about this until tomorrow, although, according to the clock, it pretty much _was _tomorrow. Monogram twiddled his pencil between his fingers and stared down at his desk, letting his mind wander.

It wandered all the way to the call he'd received from Agent P's host home member Linda. Monogram still couldn't believe that the woman had chosen to call him.

Monogram smiled. He barely remembered doing anything special for the kids. When he'd discovered that they were going to adopt a pet from the agency's adoption center, he'd been thrilled because he knew that they would take good care of the animal.

He chuckled slightly and put his pencil into his mug on the desk. He leaned back and glanced around before throwing his feet up onto the edge of the desk and leaning back in his chair. Though tired, the Major still remembered the day that Linda was talking about….

* * *

_Mr. Francis Monogram stepped into the sanctuary of Tri-State Methodist Church and glanced around. His eyes landed on the two children in the front of the sanctuary, their orange hair illuminated by the dozens of flickering candles at the altar. _

_He slowly made his way up towards the front and took a seat near eight year old Candace. Phineas was barely four. _

_The girl looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red. "What do you want, Mr. Monogram?" she asked._

_Francis knew that she didn't mean to sound rude, so he smiled. "I just came to see where you kids were," he said quietly. _

_Candace sniffled and wrapped her arm protectively around Phineas. "Well, you found us."_

_Monogram gave a small smile. "Yes, I did. How are you kids feeling?"_

_Candace scowled. "Our Dad just died. How do you think we're feeling?"_

_Monogram held up his hands and slid closer to the two. "Candace, calm down. I know this is hard for you, but you need to let people help."_

_Candace narrowed her eyes. "And how are you helping, huh? You're basically burying my dad in the ground!"_

_Monogram winced and glanced at Phineas, who had his head buried in Candace's shirt. "Phineas?" he said softly. The boy looked up. Monogram smiled gently. "Are you feeling ok?"_

_Phineas shook his head again and sniffled. Monogram looked sideways at Candace and held his arms out. Phineas hesitated for a brief second, and then darted into them, burying his face into his suit. Monogram drew him into his lap and rubbed his back gently. He looked back over at Candace, who had drawn her knees up to her chin, and then gazed up at the altar. _

_It was nearing Thanksgiving, so the white marble altar was covered in pumpkins, leaves, and other fall items. The large cross stood tall in the background with an open Bible spread in front of it. The pastor's pulpit was off to the right, and it had a banner with a picture of a cornucopia filled with vegetables and leaves on it. _

_Monogram started talking quietly. _

"_It's ok to be sad when someone dies, but you can't keep it all bottled up. It will just make you sad all the time. And sometimes talking to family members doesn't help much either. Sometimes you need to talk to someone you don't know as well in order to feel better."_

_He held his arm out to the side and felt Candace shuffle into it. He glanced down at her. _

"_Mr. Monogram, will Mom forget about Dad?"_

_Monogram winced. "Well, Candace, she might decide that she wants to see somebody after a while, and maybe even get married again, but I guarantee that she won't forget about your dad."_

_Candace sniffed. "Are you sure?"_

_Monogram nodded. "Positive."_

"_Mr. Monogram?" said a small voice from his lap._

"_Yes, Phineas?"_

"_Can you make sure that Daddy is comfy when you send him up to heaven please?"_

_Monogram smiled, tears in his eyes, and he squeezed Phineas gently. "I'll do my best, Phineas. I'll do my best."_

* * *

Monogram gulped slowly and wiped his eyes. He'd forgotten how much that memory hit him. It was one of the few times he'd ever cried over one of the people he was burying. In that line of work, a person had to be strong.

In fact, that memory had visited a few times. The strongest one was when he had gone to rescue Carl from the supposedly evil Phineas and Ferb. Thank goodness Phineas hadn't been old enough to remember him at the time, because Monogram had had a hard enough time maintaining his cover as it was.

His eyes shut and he leaned back a little more, allowing himself to wonder who he would call with his last five minutes on earth. He didn't have anything as meaningful to thank anyone for as Linda did, but he knew he should try to thank somebody.

He thought of his wife, but the two were close and each told the other all the time that they loved them.

He thought of Carl, as well, and even though his hand began to reach for his phone, he stopped himself.

He and the intern were not always on good terms, that was for sure. But hopefully the boy knew that Monogram would risk his neck for him, even if he was an unpaid intern. Monogram kind of hoped that the boy would do the same for him. It killed the Major that Carl had thought he couldn't get a pet because of him. He didn't want the boy to feel that he couldn't live his own life.

Monogram shook his head. But he didn't need to call Carl. The boy knew. Monogram was sure of it.

His mind drifted to several other people-and animals- but before he could take any action, the man was fast asleep in his chair.

* * *

He woke up at nine am to find Agent Double W (Wally the Woodpecker) tapping at his arm. He was hitting gently enough so that he didn't hurt the man, but hard enough to wake him up. Carl stood over him with a grin.

"Thanks, Agent Double W."

The bird nodded and flew out of the room. Carl rolled his tongue around in his mouth. "Boy, that's a mouthful. Try saying Agent Double W five times fast, sir."

Monogram groaned and sat up. "Carl you are in so much trouble for that."

Carl blinked and was out of the room before he could even attempt the tongue twister. Monogram chuckled and looked around for his pencil as he sat up, trying to recall what the heck he had been doing last night.

It dawned on him as he pulled a new pencil from his mug that he had suddenly thought of who to call.

Not someone that he worked with or someone that needed a lot of recognition. Just someone that Monogram had never bothered to thank.

He yanked open his desk drawer and began rummaging through it, wondering where on earth he'd put the kid's business card.

* * *

Jeremy grabbed his guitar from his room and headed downstairs, grabbing a pop tart as it sprang up from the toaster. He kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Bye Mom. Coltrane and I have a rehearsal until two. We'll have lunch at his place," he said as he darted out the door, not giving his mother the chance to respond back.

Jeremy shut the door behind him and stepped out onto the sidewalk, setting a brisk pace to his friend's house. He turned his face towards the warm morning sun and let the cool breeze hit him in the face. He loved the summer. It was so peacef-

_Summer belongs to you! Summer belongs to you! Whatever you-_

Jeremy immediately silenced the phone. He had asked Phineas, Ferb, Candace, and Isabella a while back if they would record that song so that he could make it his ringtone. He was really glad that he had.

He lifted the receiver to his ear, not bothering with a caller ID. "Hello?"

"Um, hi. Jeremy, right?"

Jeremy was puzzled. People don't usually call someone's phone if they don't know who they are going to talk to. "Yes, this is Jeremy. Who is this?"

"I'm not sure if you remember me. Um, this is Major Monogram."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow and leaned against a lamppost. "Major Monogram, as in Major 'I run an elite group of undercover animal agents' Monogram? That guy?"

Monogram was startled. "Uh, yeah, that's me."

Jeremy gave a smile. "What's up? You don't need another lesson, do you?"

Monogram chuckled. "No. I actually called to thank you for the first one, because I never did."

Jeremy searched his brain and realized that that was true, he never had thanked him. But why-?

"Why are you calling me about this now?" he asked in confusion.

"Well," the Major said, tapping his pencil on his desk, "I received a call that asked me who I would call if I had five minutes left to live."

Jeremy almost fell over. "If you were about to die in five minutes, you would call the teenage guy who gave you guitar lessons for two hours. That's what I'm hearing here. You wouldn't call your wife, or mom or something."

Monogram laughed. "They know I love them, so it wouldn't make a difference. But I wanted to tell you that I really appreciated you making time to help an older guy learn to try to play guitar."

The teenager laughed. "I thought you were doing pretty well by the time I left."

Monogram shrugged. "Maybe, but it sure didn't seem like it. So thanks anyways."

Jeremy glanced at his watch and winced. "Look, thanks for calling, but I have a rehearsal of my band to get to. I'm sorry, I've got to go."

"No problem. Goodbye."

"Bye," Jeremy said.

Monogram hung up the phone and sighed. That was harder than he thought, to work up the courage to call someone he barely knew and thank them for something so trivial.

He glanced at the paperwork sitting precariously on the edge of his desk and sighed.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Jeremy continued to Coltrane's house, swinging his guitar case in his hand lightly and wondering how hard it would be to sort through all those people just to get to him.

The teen grinned and rang the doorbell.

And as he stood on the doorstep waiting for someone to answer, he began to wonder….

Who would he call?

* * *

**Yeah, a bit obvious, but Monogram isn't really connected to anyone. Not that he had to be, but….we never actually saw his lesson with Jeremy, just the first two minutes. **

**I based the church in the flashback off of my church. I'm Methodist, so I decided to stick with something I know. That actually is what the altar in our sanctuary looks like around Thanksgiving. It's really pretty. **

**So now who will Jeremy call? And thanks to all who reviewed my spin off story!**

**Review this one, too!**


	14. Jeremy

**Shorter chapter, but I needed to put something up.**

**Raise your hand if you're sick of school already! I have a ton of homework, and it's only been two days! I hate AP Physics…dropping out. **

**But you're not here to hear about my annoyance with school. You're here to read this story that I haven't updated since…yeesh, a week ago? I've had this chapter done for a few days. DON'T HIT ME!**

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb, I loved Part Two of **_**Where's Perry**_**, and now you should read!**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

Jeremy waved to Coltrane as he stepped out of his friend's house. He started for his house and chuckled slightly as he pulled a potato chip from his hair.

Things had gotten a little crazy.

Jeremy glanced at his watch and winced when he realized that it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. He should have been home a lot sooner than this.

The boy swung his guitar case lightly at his side and turned the corner to his home. He unlocked the strangely locked front door and immediately spotted a note resting on the table in the entryway.

_Jeremy:_

_I took Suzy to the playground for a little while. Could you take the meatloaf out of the fridge and put it in the oven at 350 degrees? Thanks sweetie! We'll be home before five thirty!_

_-Mom_

Jeremy smiled and set his guitar case down on the floor. He stepped into the kitchen and swung open the refrigerator. He pulled out the meatloaf, removed the plastic wrap, and placed it into the oven. The blond stood up and turned the oven on before tossing the plastic wrap into the trash.

He walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch, listlessly reaching for the remote. As he leaned forward, his cellphone clattered out of his pocket and onto the floor. Jeremy winced and picked it up, checking it over to make sure that it hadn't broken. He sighed in relief when he saw that it was fine.

As he stared at the phone, he remembered the call that he'd gotten that morning. Jeremy sat back on the couch slowly and stared at his phone for a moment, wondering who he would call.

His first thought, obviously, was Candace. He smiled faintly. Though a bit eccentric most of the time, Jeremy loved the girl with all his heart. But she knew that. And that's why he didn't call her.

He thought briefly of his parents or Suzy, but he remembered that Monogram had called him, someone who wasn't a family member, to thank him for something as simple as a guitar lesson. So Jeremy figured that he didn't really need to call anyone in his family.

His thoughts turned to Stacy. She may have been Candace's best friend, but Stacy and Jeremy were pretty close, since the girl was going out with Coltrane. But Jeremy had nothing he needed to thank her for, or apologize for.

He sighed and thought of Coltrane as he kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. He shook his head. The two teenage boys were best friends, and both knew the other cared.

Jeremy groaned in frustration. He wanted his call to mean something. He wouldn't want his last five minutes to be wasted.

He thought of Phineas and Ferb of course. They had done so many things for him over the years, from helping him with Candace to teaching him how to dance, but the boys…well, they knew how appreciative Jeremy was. He had told them a million times. They didn't need to be called.

Jeremy sighed and slumped into the couch. He honestly couldn't think of anyone else. It was all so hard.

He frowned and drew his knee up to rest his chin on it. He was stumped. He could always ask his sister who she would call, but Suzy had been a little….unpredictable lately. He wasn't sure, but he thought that their close sibling relationship was starting to get a little distant.

Wait a minute. Sibling relationship. Jeremy sat up and reached for his phone. He could always use his last call to make sure the person was ok.

Jeremy smiled and wondered what Candace would think if she knew that he had this number in his phone.

* * *

Irving sighed and turned the page in his Phineas and Ferb scrapbook. He couldn't believe that they had been gone for a whole week, and would be gone until the day after tomorrow. He hadn't gotten to their house in time to put a camera in the RV, but he supposed that it was for the best. In such a small enclosure, they'd be certain to find it.

The boy adjusted his glasses and stared down at the picture of when the boys had gone to Mars. He snorted. That one was hard to set up. But Ferb had taken his toolbox, so he had gotten the images after all.

He turned the page again and hadn't even looked at the photo when the phone rang next to him.

Irving set down the scrapbook and picked up the landline, drawing it to his ear quickly. "Hello?"

"Hi, is Irving there?"

Irving sat up in surprise. People rarely called for him. "Irving speaking," he said with an excited tone.

Jeremy gave a small smile. "Hey, Irving, this is Jeremy."

Irving fell off the sofa. Quite literally. He pushed his glasses back into place on his face and smiled brightly. "Hi Jeremy! What's up?"

Jeremy had to smile at the boy's enthusiasm. The two didn't know each other very well, but they had hung out a few times.

"I'm pretty good. Listen, I called to thank you."

Irving, who had just climbed back onto the couch, fell off yet again, one of his legs still awkwardly hanging on to the cushions, his glasses wobbling precariously on the edge of his nose, and his hand flung out behind him to stop his fall. "You what now?"

"I called to thank you. For confiding in me. You know, about Albert?"

Irving scowled slightly at the mention of his brother's name. "I just needed someone to talk to. It was no biggie."

Jeremy shrugged. "It was to me. My sister's been growing a bit distant lately, and it makes me feel like no one needs me to talk to them about stuff."

Irving grimaced at the mention of Suzy. He didn't like her almost as much as Candace and Buford. "Right. So….I made you feel needed?"

Jeremy nodded. "Well, yeah. I mean, you hardly knew me, but you still talked to me about something personal."

Irving smiled and picked himself up again. "Well thanks. That…actually means a lot. People don't usually call me too often."

Jeremy gave a sad smile. He knew that Irving wasn't the most popular person in the world, but he also knew that despite his weird stalking, Phineas and Ferb thought fondly of the boy. After all, because of Irving, they now had perfect records of everything that they had ever done.

"Jeremy?"

Jeremy shook his head and focused on the boy on the other line. "Sorry, Irving. What?"

"Why'd you call me about this, anyway?"

Jeremy pulled his feet underneath him and smiled. "I got a call from someone. You don't know him, but he asked me who I would call if I only had five minutes left to live. It really got me thinking, about who I needed to call, and why. Of course my first thought was my close friends or family, but I realized that I had nothing to tell them that they didn't already know. But I never told you how much it meant to me that someone I barely knew could talk to me so easily. So thanks again."

Irving grinned. "Thank me? Thank you! You helped me a lot with Albert…and it meant something, it wasn't just dumb old everyday advice."

Jeremy laughed. "Well, I'm glad that I give good advice. You going to be able to hold out until Phineas and Ferb get back?"

Irving smiled. "Probably. You gave me something to do."

"And Irving?"

"Yeah?"

"I bet if you lay off of spying on Phineas and Ferb, you'd be called a lot more."

Jeremy hung up the phone quietly, leaving Irving sitting on his couch with a dial tone buzzing in his ear. He put the phone back on the hook slowly, realizing with a start that Jeremy was absolutely correct.

Huh. Well what do you know?

* * *

Jeremy smiled and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He leaned over and picked up his guitar, strumming the strings lightly.

He wasn't sure until this moment that Irving had been the right person to call, but he was positive now.

Jeremy smiled and set down the guitar. He walked into the kitchen briefly to check on the meatloaf, and then he grabbed a bag of potatoes and a knife and sat down at the table.

Jeremy grinned and began peeling the potatoes carefully.

He had felt bad when Irving had come to him, but he had realized at that moment that all the kid wanted was a really good friend.

* * *

**HA! I got it up! Now you know who Jeremy called.**

**I'm amazed that none of you have figured out where this is going yet. Only a few calls left….can you figure them out?**

**R and R!**


	15. Irving

**Grrrrr, school is killing my writing time. And my reading time. All you people are updating some of my fave stories and I can't read them because I have no time!**

**By the way, WordNerb93 and tiff0795 guessed who Irving would call. If I missed someone who guessed correctly, sorry! I'm uber tired right now. Sorry for mistakes.**

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

It was 10:30 at night, and Irving still couldn't fall asleep. His mind was running through all the things that Jeremy had said earlier.

The boy turned over in bed and squinted at the blurry form of his cellphone on the side table. His glasses were off, so everything was a big blob.

He closed his eyes and couldn't help but smile when he realized for the hundredth time that no, the call hadn't been some illusion brought on by not seeing Phineas and Ferb. It was in fact a real phone call.

He crossed his arms behind his head and thought about why Jeremy had called. It wasn't that big of a deal, actually.

Irving had been so sick of Albert always getting on his case about Phineas and Ferb, and the last straw had come when Albert had gone into his brother's room and torn down all of his Phineas and Ferb pictures from his walls. Luckily, the boy hadn't gotten hold of Irving's scrapbook, so it was still safe.

Irving had left the house in fury, after vowing to himself never to talk to his brother again.

He had let his feet take him where they wanted to, and he had ended up in the park, sitting on the swing set.

Irving smiled vaguely as he remembered that _Jeremy _had actually been the one to walk over.

* * *

"_You're Irving, right? You're friends with Phineas and Ferb?" asked the blond headed boy as he sat on the swing to the left of Irving. _

_Irving glanced up, trying not to show his bloodshot eyes and he nodded. Jeremy frowned. "Hey, are you ok?"_

_Irving sighed and drew one of his knees to his chin, clutching onto the swing tightly so he didn't fall. "I'm fine," he whispered, wincing at the cracking in his voice._

_Jeremy shook his head and turned in the swing so that he was straddling it. "No you're not. What's wrong?"_

_Irving glanced up at the guitar player. Though he had seen him before and knew who he was, Irving had never talked to him, and frankly, he was surprised that the kid had even known who he was._

"_It's just…my brother. He can be so obnoxious most of the time!"_

_Jeremy gave a small smile. "All siblings are, Irving. I love my sister, but she can be a pain sometimes, too."_

"_You have no idea," Irving muttered._

_Jeremy frowned. "What?"_

"_Nothing!" the boy said quickly. _

_Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "What did your brother do?"_

_Irving sighed. "He came into my room and tore down all of my pictures of Phineas and Ferb from the walls. He thinks they're dumb."_

_Jeremy's eyebrows shot up. "Your brother thinks _Phineas and Ferb _are dumb?"_

_Irving nodded. "Yeah. And he thinks that I'm stupid to be hanging around them."_

_Jeremy sighed and kicked his swing lightly from the ground. "Don't listen to him. Phineas and Ferb are geniuses, and you do well to recognize that."_

_Irving smiled vaguely. "Thanks."_

_Jeremy grinned and stood up from the swing. "Just ignore him, or prove to him that Phineas and Ferb are as cool as you say. I bet you guys have a lot in common, and you just don't know it."_

_Irving looked up at the boy with a bright smile. "You think so?"_

_Jeremy nodded. "I know so."_

* * *

Irving smiled and tugged the covers up to his chin. He had had a long chat with Albert later that day, and the teen had agreed to let Irving do what he wanted…to an extent. But it was enough. The next day, both of them had gone to the science center and had a lot of fun.

Irving frowned and glanced at his bedside clock. It was almost 11:00, and he was still awake.

He might as well think about who he would call.

Irving rolled onto his stomach and stretched his arms out in front of him. His parents were out. They knew that he loved them. Even Albert knew, so he was out as well.

Baljeet and Buford popped into his head, but neither one seemed to like him very much, though they tolerated him. Irving, when he thought about it, really had nothing to say to them.

Isabella also entered his mind, but the girl was always really nice to him, and when Ferb hadn't been available, had actually come to him once or twice for advice on Phineas. It made Irving really happy, but he had told Isabella that.

Obviously, his next thoughts were of Phineas and Ferb, but before he could put too much thought into calling either of them, he had fallen asleep.

* * *

Irving woke up at nine am to an annoying bird that was chirping outside his window. He groaned, rolled out of bed, and shooed the bird away.

The boy got dressed quickly and his thoughts returned to last night. He glanced over at his calendar and noted that Phineas and Ferb would be home the next day.

Irving smiled and skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. He poured himself a bowl of cereal, but before he had taken one bite, his phone rang. The caller ID showed Isabella, and for a moment, Irving was really confused.

"Hello?" he said as he lifted a spoonful of cereal to his mouth.

"Hey Irving," Isabella said cheerily. "Baljeet, Buford, the Fireside Girls, and I are going to the beach later today. Do you want to come?"

Irving choked on his cereal. "You want ME to come?"

Isabella laughed. "Yeah. This time you don't have to sneak into the car when we stop for gas."

Irving blushed a little. "Yeah…sure, I'd love to come!"

"Awesome!" Isabella said. "We'll pick you up in an hour or so."

"Bye," Irving said softly.

He hung up the phone and stared at it. He had just been invited to go to the beach. Normally he had to sneak his way into hanging out with Phineas, Ferb, and their friends.

And….admittedly, that was a little creepy, Irving realized as he set down his spoon into his cereal bowl.

The boy frowned and tucked his chin into his hand. He had never realized how weird it was that he stalked the boys. He had always thought that they were so cool…he had never realized that they might not like having someone watching their every move.

But…both boys had accepted him, and while he still wasn't part of the "Phineas and Ferb Group," basically being Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet, they still had him around a lot, much like the Fireside Girls or Django.

And it dawned on Irving exactly who he should call.

* * *

Phineas was drawing up the blueprints for the Truck Stop that he and Ferb were planning to place on top of the RV. Ferb was actually on top of the RV securing the format into place so that the weight from the Truck Stop and the trucks themselves wouldn't crush the vehicle.

He peered up the hatch that led to the roof. "Ferb! How's it coming?" he yelled.

Ferb's head appeared in the hatch. He was secured by a harness that was tied to the rung of the ladder inside the RV. The boy gave his brother a thumbs up and disappeared again.

Phineas smiled and was about to call the order for the food in when his phone rang. He tucked the blueprints under his arm and pulled out his cellphone from his pocket. He raised it to his ear, trying to hold onto the blueprints.

"Hello?"

"Phineas? Hi, it's Irving."

The blueprints scattered to the floor and Phineas groaned. Irving frowned, startled. "Oh, sorry. I'll just-"

"No, no, no!" Phineas said quickly. "It's fine! I just dropped my blueprint, that's all."

Irving raised an eyebrow. "What are you building in an RV?"

Phineas chuckled. "Not in it, on it. Ferb and I will tell you guys all about it when we get back tomorrow. So what's up?"

Irving pulled at his collar nervously. "Um, I…I just called to apologize."

Phineas frowned. "Why? What did you do, torch our house or something?"

"No…I just…I'm sorry that I always stalked you guys. I looked back on it, and I realized how creepy it was. I'm amazed that you and Ferb let me hang out with you at all."

Phineas was stunned. "What? No, Irving, you got it all wrong. Sure, it was a little weird at times, especially that lock of Ferb's hair- by the way, don't ever want to know how you got that- but Ferb and I were talking and we realized that it's kind of flattering…in a really creepy way. So, thanks, I guess."

Now Irving was surprised. "So…you're not upset that I have pictures of your every adventure?"

Phineas laughed. "Not at all. After all, it was a great birthday present."

Irving blushed. "Who told you that those were my pictures?"

Phineas smiled. "Ferb and Isabella. They thought I would want to know."

"Well, then you're welcome…I think. But I wanted to apologize anyway, and say thanks for letting me hang out with you guys all the time."

Phineas grinned. "No prob. By the way, what made you call me?"

"Well," Irving said slowly, tapping his chin, "I got a call asking me who I would call if I only had five minutes left to live. It took me a while, but I realized that I needed to tell you all that."

"Really? Wow, thanks!" Phineas said. A thump came from overhead and Phineas glanced up to see Ferb peering down, a sheepish look on his face and a bolt in his hand. Phineas chuckled.

"Hey, Irving, I got to go help Ferb. Thanks for the call."

"Don't mention it. Have fun on the rest of your trip, and see you tomorrow," Irving said, getting ready to hang up.

"Hey Irving," Phineas said as he mounted the ladder, his blueprint tucked back under his arm.

Irving paused. "Yeah?"

Phineas smiled. "Consider yourself a member of the full time group."

He hung up the phone and joined Ferb up top to help him reattach one of the metal frames to the side of the RV.

Ferb raised an eyebrow at his brother and motioned to his phone as he held onto the metal beam for dear life. Phineas glanced at it.

"Just a phone call from a friend," he said with a smile.

* * *

Irving could barely hang up his phone, he was trembling so much. Phineas had told him he was a member of the full time group.

He couldn't believe it.

The boy placed his now soggy cereal in the trash and ran upstairs to pack a swim bag for the beach. Irving grinned as he tossed his camera in and shut the drawstrings. The doorbell rang downstairs, and he sprinted to the first floor, pulling open the door to reveal Isabella in flip flops, the top half of her swimsuit, and a pink skirt.

"Ready to go?" she asked with a smile.

Irving grinned and bounced down the front steps, shutting the door behind him. "Yup."

Isabella laughed as she followed him to her mother's car. "You seem happy."

Irving slid into the backseat next to Baljeet. "I am."

* * *

**Awwwww. Friendship. I love it. And toast. I've recently had strange cravings for toast. **

**Phineas now recognizes Irving as a friend! You remember, in "What Do It Do?" he said: "Friends, bullies, Irving…" Well, now I just made this awesomeness!**

**R and R!**


	16. Author's Note Sorry!

**Hey, guys! **

**Sorry, I know an author's note was not what you wanted, not when I'm so close to finishing this story. But I lost the flash drive that I had the last chapter saved on, and I had the chapter exactly how I wanted it. **

**Suffice to say, I won't be uploading it until after I find the flash drive, which will hopefully be within the next week.**

**However, I promise you that if I don't have it by next Friday, I will retype the chapter, even though it won't be as good, and I'll upload that so I don't kill you. **

**You WILL have the chapter within the next week and a half, either way, so don't worry. **

**In the meantime, can I satisfy you with an excerpt from a story I _might_ upload? You'll have to let me know if you want me to, but here it is anyway:**

* * *

Perry dove into the water, frantically searching the area for that flash of red hair he had seen just a moment before from the claws of Agent E. He knew he only had a limited amount of time before his breath ran out, but Perry couldn't leave without looking.

The platypus swept to and fro in the water, which was filled with crumbling debris. He wasn't at all hopeful, until he caught sight of the bright red hair (thank God for that) swishing around in the silty water.

He darted over and put his hand gently on Candace's shoulder. He glanced at the unconcious girl for a moment with a worry before reaching up with his fingers to her neck, where his fingertips found the vibrations of a pulse. A really strong pulse, come to think of it.

Perry reached over and lightly grabbed Candace's wrists, wincing when he spotted the large cut that was on her forehead. He'd haave to hope that she would fix that later.

He tugged on Candace's wrists and she slid off the rock, Perry struggling slightly to hold her up.

Perry's eyes widened and he almost dropped her when he saw what he did.

* * *

**It's just a little teaser, but I thought that you deserved it since you didn't get the actual chapter.**

**Again, I'm so sorry, and let me know if you want me to actually do the story that the little bit is taken from! And see if you know which episode this is taken from. Kind of obvious.**

**Until I get the chapter up,**

**-PFTones3482-**


	17. Phineas

**So, I didn't find my flash drive. But I'm weak, and so many of you guys wanted me to upload the chapter anyway. I couldn't let you down! Plus, I love this story, and found my original hard copy writing to this chapter, so I had something to go off of. And a quick response to some reviews:**

**DT: I'll try my best! I always hated that too, which is why I hate it when I go more than two days without updating a story!**

**Skychan11: You spoke too soon! lolz. **

**Pretty much everyone who guessed got Phineas' call right. Again, thanks to _wfea_ for inspiring me to write this story! you should go check out _wfea_'s story called Last Call. Again, Danny Phantom fanfiction. **

**Now, for the final time in this story I don't own Phineas and Ferb. **

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GENERAL POV

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Phineas stared out the window of the moving RV and leaned lightly against the wall. It was almost nine o'clock in the morning, and Phineas was tempted to wake up Ferb so that they could do something super cool.

But, seeing as how they would be home in less than forty five minutes, Phineas didn't think he should. He should let Ferb sleep. After all, everyone was tired after yesterday.

Phineas grinned. The truck stop had been one of the most fun things that he and Ferb had ever done. Even Candace had had fun for a while! Until the diner mysteriously disappeared…

Phineas still didn't get that. How could a giant diner just vanish?

The boy shook his head and climbed out of bed. He went to the bathroom and got dressed as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't wake up his brother and sister. When he stepped out of the mobile bathroom, he almost tripped over Perry.

"Oh, there you are Perry," Phineas said, leaning over and picking the monotreme up off the floor. He sat down in the booth that was situated in the RV and plunked his chin into his hand.

Phineas stared out the window for a moment, looking at the passing countryside and absentmindedly stroking Perry's back. His thoughts of yesterday had brought back the call that Irving had given him.

Who would he call in his last five minutes?

Phineas frowned and sat back in his seat, scratching Perry gently. "I don't know, Perry, who would you call if you only had five minutes left to live?"

Perry looked up with a small smile. Amazing. The last he had heard of this had been the call from Heinz to Linda. He had no idea how on earth it had wrapped back around to Phineas.

Phineas tapped his chin. "I mean, I would want to call Candace or Ferb, but they know that I care about them. And so do Mom and Dad. Irving didn't call any of his family members…" he mused.

Perry grinned. So that was who had called Phineas. But how did Irving connect to Linda?

Phineas sighed. "Buford and Baljeet….they know I care, too. At least I hope they do. Huh."

Perry rolled his eyes. Great. Even in the time of contemplating who he would call in his last five minutes, the boy was still oblivious.

Perry hopped off of Phineas' lap, but the young inventor barely noticed. "Django? Or maybe one of Ferb's cousins? But how does that make any sense?"

Perry almost laughed as he trotted over to Phineas' duffel bag, which was thankfully wide open. He reached in and pulled out a picture frame with his beak, and turned around and brought it over to Phineas, letting out a careful chatter from the side of his mouth.

Phineas glanced down and picked up the frame from Perry. He stared at it for a long time, and then looked back down at his pet, who was obviously still mindless.

"Do you think I should, Perry?" he asked.

Perry chattered and Phineas glanced back at the frame, wondering for a brief second why he had brought it on the trip.

In it, Phineas stood in the middle. His left arm was wrapped tightly around Ferb, who for once had a small smile on his face. His other arm was slung around Isabella. Phineas had a huge grin on his face in the picture, and for the first time, Phineas (in real life) noticed that Isabella was looking at him in the picture.

Phineas smiled. "That was the best day ever," he whispered.

He looked back down at Perry. "But should I really call Isabella?"

Perry didn't do a thing, and Phineas looked back at the frame. He jumped up from his seat and darted over to Ferb's bed, shaking him awake. "Ferb…Ferb, come on bro, I have to ask you something."

Ferb sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. "What?"

Phineas held up the picture and pointed to Isabella. "Should I call Isabella with my last five minutes?"

Ferb froze in place and stared at his brother, open mouthed. No way he had just said that. "Pardon?"

"If I had five minutes left, do you think I should call Isabella? Perry put her picture in my lap…kind of."

Ferb glanced down at the platypus and made a note to himself to get the animal a treat later. Ferb looked out the window for a moment and smiled.

"Well, Phineas, that's up to you. But if I were you, I think calling her would be a waste of your time."

He pointed out the window just as the RV parked in the Flynn-Fletcher's front yard. Phineas looked over to Isabella's house, then at his brother. Ferb just grinned and nodded.

Phineas smiled and sprinted out the door of the RV, the picture still clutched in his hand. Ferb smiled and looked over at his mother as she walked in. Linda raised an eyebrow and pointed at Candace.

"Should we wake her up or leave her here?"

Ferb chuckled and he and Linda stepped out of the RV with Perry at their heels.

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Isabella smiled and finished brushing her hair. Yesterday had been the greatest. Irving had been as high as a kite, Buford had actually been nice, and on the way home from the beach, Isabella and Baljeet had run into that boy Carl, who had been having the time of his life playing with a large German Shepherd.

The doorbell rang and Isabella skipped down the stairs, throwing it open with a cheerful, "Whatcha doing?"

She blinked in surprise.

Phineas was standing on the doorstep, holding a picture frame and looking at her in worry.

"Phineas? You guys are back already?" she said.

Phineas nodded. "Yeah. And, um, I needed to talk to you. Like, right now."

Isabella nodded slowly and leaned on the door jamb. "Shoot."

Phineas tugged on his collar. "Well, um, ok, here it goes. I'm not as oblivious as I look, Isabella. Believe me, I'm not. And…I guess I was always just too shy to tell you that."

Isabella picked up her jaw and tried to cover the blush on her cheeks. "What do you mean?"

Phineas gulped, set the picture down, and before Isabella could get a good look at it, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss.

Isabella barely had time to register what was happening before Phineas pulled away, obviously embarrassed. His face was the color of his hair, and Isabella was sure that hers was the same. She opened and closed her mouth slowly, not sure what to say.

Phineas hadn't even looked up yet, and his hands kept fidgeting with each other. Isabella started to grin, and then she stepped forward, grabbed Phineas' hands, and when he looked up, she pressed her lips into his, not letting him go until they started hearing whistles and cheers from the sidewalk.

They pulled away and looked down at the street.

Candace, Buford, Baljeet, and every single Fireside girl was standing on the sidewalk. Ferb leaned against a lamppost with a grin on his face and a camcorder in his hand. Everyone was cheering, slapping high fives, and exchanging money (Phineas didn't even want to know what that was about).

"Guys!" Isabella called in exasperation.

Phineas shook his fist in mock anger at his brother. "Ferb, I am so going to get you for this!" he yelled.

Everyone on the sidewalk scattered and Phineas turned towards Isabella, still holding her hands.

"So…now what?"

Isabella chuckled. "Now, we get that footage before Ferb can post it on your website."

Phineas grinned. "I don't think Ferb would do that."

Isabella smiled. "Phineas, can I ask you something?"

Phineas nodded.

"What made you come over to tell me this?"

The boy paused for a moment. "Well, I got a call from somebody. And they asked me who I would call with my last five minutes."

Isabella dropped Phineas' hands in pure disbelief. "You're kidding."

He shook his head in confusion. "No, I'm not, why?"

Isabella smiled. "Because, I started that. I don't know how it rounded up to you though. But I do know this: At least five people were called."

Phineas cocked his head. "Who?"

Isabella ticked them off on her fingers. "Irving, Baljeet, Buford, that kid Carl, and Ferb."

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

Isabella shrugged. "Easy. I called Ferb, Buford hasn't been bullying Baljeet as much, Baljeet is having a lot more fun with summer than he used to be, and Irving is as high as a kite. And that kid Carl? He was having a ball in the park. I've never seen someone so happy."

Phineas smiled. "Funny enough, Irving called me. I wonder who called him…."

Isabella shrugged. "Does it really matter? All that matters is that some lives were changed."

"Yeah," Phineas said, "because of you."

The girl blushed and took Phineas' hand again. "Come on. Let's go see if we can't catch up to those traitors."

Phineas grinned and the two ran down the street, hand in hand, laughing.

Now, my final question for you is: If you had five minutes, who would you call?

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**Fin. So, I changed up the last chapter a little. **

**In the first one I typed, I was going to thank every single person who reviewed. That proved to be too difficult this time around, and I didn't feel like typing every single name. So I'll do this instead:**

**THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! YOU GUYS HAVE MADE THIS MY NUMBER ONE STORY, AND YOU ALL FREAKING ROCK! I COULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOU!**

**And keep an eye out. When I finish Revenge on the Platypus, I'll be posting the story that you all saw the excerpt to in my authors note. Just a note: it doesn't solely center around "The Ballad of Badbeard."**

**R and R!**


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